Systems and methods for tiling optically narrowcast signals

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for optical narrowcasting are provided for transmitting various types of content. Optical narrowcasting content indicative of the presence of additional information along with identifying information may be transmitted. The additional information (which may include meaningful amounts of advertising information, media, or any other content) may also be transmitted as optical narrowcasting content. Elements of an optical narrowcasting system may include optical transmitters and optical receivers which can be configured to be operative at distances ranging from, e.g., 400 meters to 1200 meters. Moreover, the elements can be implemented on a miniaturized scale in conjunction with small, user devices such as smartphones, thereby also realizing optical ad-hoc networking, as well as interoperability with other types of data networks. Optically narrowcast content can be used to augment a real-world experience, enhance and/or spawn new forms of social-media and media content.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/273,276 filed on Dec. 30, 2015, which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to wireless opticalcommunications. Some embodiments relate to systems and methods foroptical narrowcasting.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Generally, mobile communications systems, both long and short-range, arebased on the transmission and/or receipt of radio waves (e.g., cellularnetworks, WiFi networks, Bluetooth® communications, Near-FieldCommunications (NFC), etc.). Services, such as location-based services,may oftentimes also rely on radio-wave-based communications (e.g.,Global Positioning System (GPS) positioning, WiFi triangulation, etc.).

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

In various embodiments, a first transmitter comprises a first lightsource and a first collimator. The first collimator may include a firstportion and a second portion each of which being rotationally symmetricabout an optical axis substantially centered on a light-emitting elementof the first light source. The first portion of the first collimator mayhave a broad middle body between a narrow circular first entrance pupiland a narrow circular first exit pupil. The broad middle body may have afirst diameter greater than a second diameter of the narrow circularfirst entrance pupil and greater than a third diameter of the narrowcircular first exit pupil. The second portion of the first collimatormay have a flared body between a narrow circular second entrance pupiland a broad circular second exit pupil, the narrow second entrance pupilbeing coupled to, and having the same diameter as, the narrow circularfirst exit pupil. A fourth diameter of the broad second exit pupil maybe greater than the first diameter of the broad middle body of the firstportion. The narrow first entrance pupil may be positioned near thelight source to receive light from the first light source. The light maybe emitted from the broad second exit pupil.

In some embodiments, the first transmitter may further comprise adata-format converter configured to convert data to an optical formatfor optical transmission and a light source driver configured to receivedata from the data-format converter and control the first light sourceto transmit the converted data. The data-format converter may beconfigured to convert data to a return-to-zero on-off-keying (RZ-OOK)format or a non-return-to-zero on-off keying (NRZ-OOK) format. In someembodiments, the data-format converter is configured to incorporatetransmit and receive first-in-first-outs (FIFOs) to prevent overflowerrors.

The first transmitter may further comprise a first pair of lensletarrays positioned in front of the broad second exit pupil of the firstcollimator. The first pair of lenslet arrays may be identical Köhlerhomogenizers to improve uniformity of light output from the broad secondexit pupil of the first collimator. The first pair of lenslet arrays maybe positioned parallel to each other in front of the broad second exitpupil of the first collimator. Each of the first pair of lenslet arraysmay be separated from each other by a distance equal to a focal lengthof each of the lenslets of the first pair of lenslet arrays.

The first portion of the first collimator may have a length from thenarrow circular first entrance pupil to the narrow first exit pupil thatis 10 mm or less. The second portion of the first collimator may have alength from the narrow second entrance pupil to the broad second exitpupil of the first collimator that is 12 mm or less. The first andsecond portions of first collimator may each include an inner surfaceand an outer surface, the inner surfaces being reflective. The firstlight source may output optical radiation with a spectrum having acentroid wavelength of 850 nm. In some embodiments, the first lightsource includes an incoherent light emitter or a coherent light emitter.

In various embodiments, the first transmitter may further comprise adigital device that is coupled to the data-format converter, the digitaldevice being configured to provide data to be transmitted as a modulatedoptical beam by the first transmitter.

The first transmitter may comprise a tilt actuator configured to controla pointing direction of the first transmitter. The first transmitter mayfurther comprise a heat sink configured to dissipate heat from the firstlight source.

In various embodiments, there may be one or more additionaltransmitters, each being identical to each other and identical to thefirst transmitter; each optical axis of each collimator of each of theone or more additional transmitters and the first transmitter may beparallel to each other. A digital device may be simultaneously coupledto each of the one or more additional transmitters and the firsttransmitter. The digital device may be configured to provide data to betransmitted as a modulated optical beam by each of the one or moreadditional transmitters and the first transmitter. In some embodiments,the optical intensity output produced at any given time by each of theone or more transmitters and the first transmitter as a function of ahorizontal and a vertical angular coordinate has a root-mean-square(RMS) non-uniformity of 5% or less within a polygonal angular region,wherein sizes and shapes of each of the polygonal angular regions areidentical, and wherein a mean optical intensity produced at a given timeby each of the one or more transmitters and the first transmitter withinthe respective polygonal angular region is approximately equal to a meanoptical intensity produced at a same time by each of the one or moretransmitters and the first transmitter within each of their respectivepolygonal angular regions. The angular orientation of each of the one ormore transmitters and the first transmitter may be relative to eachother such that corresponding individual polygonal angular regions of 5%or lower RMS non-uniformity associated with each of the one or moretransmitters and the first transmitter are arranged in a non-overlappingconfiguration without gaps between any adjacent polygonal regions, suchthat the RMS non-uniformity of the optical intensity within a singlelarger combined polygonal angular region constructed from each of theindividual polygonal angular regions is 5% or lower.

An example method may comprise receiving light from a first light sourceof a first transmitter and aligning the light received from the firstlight source with a first collimator of the first transmitter. The firstcollimator may include a first portion and a second portion each ofwhich being rotationally symmetric about an optical axis substantiallycentered on a light-emitting element of the first light source. Thelight may be received by a narrow circular first entrance pupil of afirst portion of the first collimator. The first portion of the firstcollimator may have a broad middle body between the narrow circularfirst entrance pupil and a narrow circular first exit pupil. The broadmiddle body may have a first diameter greater than a second diameter ofthe narrow circular first entrance pupil and greater than a thirddiameter of the narrow circular first exit pupil. The narrow circularfirst exit pupil may provide light from the broad middle body to anarrow circular second entrance pupil of the second portion of the firstcollimator. The second portion of the first collimator may have a flaredbody between the narrow circular second entrance pupil and a broadsecond exit pupil, the narrow circular second entrance pupil beingcoupled to the narrow circular first exit pupil of the first portion ofthe first collimator to receive the light from the first portion of thefirst collimator. A fourth diameter of the broad second exit pupil maybe greater than the first diameter of the broad middle body of the firstportion of the first collimator. The broad second exit pupil may emitthe light to transmit aligned optical energy.

The method may further comprise converting received data to an opticalformat for optical transmission to create optically formatted data anddriving the first light source to emit the optically formatted data asoptical beams, at least a portion of the optical beams being received bythe first collimator. The optically formatted data may be convertedusing a return-to-zero on-off-keying (RZ-OOK) format or anon-return-to-zero on-off keying (NRZ-OOK) format. The method mayfurther comprise incorporating transmit and receive first-in-first-outs(FIFOs) within the optically formatted data to prevent overflow errors.

The method may further comprise increasing uniformity of the alignedoptical energy with a first pair of lenslet arrays positioned in frontof the broad second exit pupil of the second portion of the firstcollimator. The first pair of lenslet arrays may be identical Köhlerhomogenizers. The first pair of lenslet arrays may be positionedparallel to each other in front of the broad second exit pupil of thesecond portion of the first collimator, each of the first pair oflenslet arrays may be separated from each other by a distance equal to afocal length of each of the lenslets of the first pair of lensletarrays.

In some embodiments, the first portion of the first collimator has alength from the narrow circular first entrance pupil to the narrowcircular first exit pupil that is 10 mm or less. The second portion ofthe first collimator may have a length from the narrow circular secondentrance pupil to the broad second exit pupil of the first collimatorthat is 12 mm or less. The first and second portions of the firstcollimator may each include an inner surface and an outer surface, theinner surfaces being reflective.

The method may further comprise controlling a pointing direction of thefirst transmitter using a tilt actuator. In some embodiments, the methodmay further comprise receiving device data from a digital device by thedata-format converter to create received data, the device data includingat least one file to be transmitted as a modulated optical beam by thefirst transmitter.

The first light source may output optical radiation with a spectrumhaving a centroid wavelength of 850 nm. The first light source may be anincoherent or coherent light emitter. The method may further comprisedissipating heat from the first light source with a heat sink.

In various embodiments, the method further comprises emitting opticalbeams by one or more additional transmitters, each being identical toeach other and identical to the first transmitter, each optical axis ofeach collimator of each of the one or more additional transmitters andthe first transmitter being parallel to each other. The method maycomprise providing, by a digital device, data to be transmitted as amodulated optical beam by each of the one or more additionaltransmitters and the first transmitter. The digital device may besimultaneously coupled to each of the one or more additionaltransmitters and the first transmitter. The optical intensity outputproduced at any given time by each of the one or more transmitters andthe first transmitter may be a function of a horizontal and a verticalangular coordinate which has a root-mean-square (RMS) non-uniformity of5% or less within a polygonal angular region. Sizes and shapes of eachof the polygonal angular regions may be identical. A mean opticalintensity produced at a given time by each of the one or moretransmitters and the first transmitter within the respective polygonalangular region may be approximately equal to a mean optical intensityproduced at a same time by each of the one or more transmitters and thefirst transmitter within each of their respective polygonal angularregions. The angular orientation of each of the one or more transmittersand the first transmitter relative to each other may be such thatcorresponding individual polygonal angular regions of 5% or lower RMSnon-uniformity associated with each of the one or more transmitters andthe first transmitter are arranged in a non-overlapping configurationwithout gaps between any adjacent polygonal regions, such that the RMSnon-uniformity of the optical intensity within a single larger combinedpolygonal angular region constructed from each of the individualpolygonal angular regions is 5% or lower.

Another example transmitter may include a light source and a wineglasscollimator. The wineglass collimator may include a first portion and asecond portion each of which being rotationally symmetric about anoptical axis substantially centered on a light-emitting element of thelight source. The first portion may be approximately ellipsoidal inshape with a broad middle body between a narrow entrance pupil and anarrow circular exit. The broad middle body may have a first diametergreater than a second diameter of the narrow entrance pupil and greaterthan a third diameter of the narrow circular exit. The second portionmay be approximately paraboloidal in shape with a flared body between anarrow circular entrance and a broad exit pupil. The narrow circularentrance may be coupled to the narrow circular exit of the firstportion. A fourth diameter of the broad exit pupil may be greater thanthe first diameter of the broad middle body of the first portion. Thenarrow entrance pupil positioned near the light source to receive lightfrom the light source. The broad exit pupil may emit the light.

In various embodiments, a receiver comprises a lenslet array, an opticaldetector array, a signal amplifier and filter, a format converter, and aport. The lenslet array may include a plurality of lenslets, each of theplurality of lenslets including a first side and a second side, thefirst side being convex and the second side being planar. The opticaldetector array may include a plurality of optical detectors, eachoptical detector of the plurality of optical detectors positioned in thefocal plane of the plurality of lenslets. Each of the lenslets may bepositioned to concentrate flux collected over the convex side receivedfrom a field of view (FOV) onto at least one optical detector of theplurality of optical detectors. The signal amplifier and filter may becoupled to the optical detector array and configured to amplify andfilter signals received from the optical detector array to create anamplified signal. The format converter may be configured to convert anoptical format of the amplified signal to a digital signal. The port maybe configured to output the digital signal to a digital device.

In some embodiments, a digital device case is capable of coupling with adigital device, the digital device case may include the lenslet array,the optical detector array, the signal amplifier and filter, the formatconverter, and the port. Alternately, a digital device may include thelenslet array, the optical detector array, the signal amplifier andfilter, the format converter, and the port.

The width from one of the optical detectors of the plurality of opticaldetectors to an apex of the closest lenslet of the plurality of lensletsis 4 mm or smaller.

In various embodiments, the receiver may further comprise an imaginglens, at least one beacon detector, and a data processor. The at leastone beacon detector may be in the focal plane of the imaging lens. Theimaging lens and the at least one beacon detector may be capable ofreceiving at least one optical beacon from at least one transmitter. Thedata processor may be configured to generate a notification when theoptical beacon is detected to indicate that additional information maybe detectable by at least one optical detector of the plurality ofoptical detectors.

Each optical detector, in some embodiments, can detect an optical signalin the 10 nm to 106 nm spectrum. The optical detector array may include,for example, a 6×6 array of optical detectors and the lenslet arrayincludes a 6×6 array of lenslets. The lenslet array may be, for example,a 2.75 mm or less square.

The receiver may be a multi-channel receiver and each optical detectorof the plurality of optical detectors may be dedicated to receive fluxwithin an optical waveband of a channel. The receiver may furthercomprise a spectral filter configured to reduce levels of out-of-bandflux incident on at least one side of the at least one optical detectorof the plurality of optical detectors. In some embodiments, a spectralfilter may be configured to reduce levels of out-of-band flux incidenton the at least one beacon detector.

In various embodiments, a tilt actuator may be configured to controltilt orientation of the receiver. The receiver may further comprise aprocessor configured to control the tilt actuator based on transmitterposition information calculated by the processor using a position of thebeacon received at one location on the at least one beacon detector.Each lenslet of the plurality of lenslets may be approximately a 2.75 mmsquare with a lens thickness at the center of approximately 1.85 mm.

An example method may comprise collecting an optical signal from anoptical transmitter by a lenslet array including a plurality oflenslets, each of the plurality of lenslets including a first side and asecond side, the first side being convex and the second side beingplanar, concentrating, by the lenslet array, the optical signal to anoptical detector array including a plurality of optical detectors, eachoptical detector of the plurality of optical detectors positioned in thefocal plane of the plurality of lenslets, each of the lensletsconcentrating flux collected over the convex side received from a fieldof view (FOV) onto at least one optical detector of the plurality ofoptical detectors, generating a detector signal by the plurality ofoptical detectors in response to the concentration of the opticalsignal, amplifying and filtering the detector signal by a signalamplifier and filter coupled to the optical detector array to create anamplified signal, converting the amplified signal from an optical formatto a digital signal, and providing the digital signal to a digitaldevice.

In some embodiments, the method may further comprise coupling a digitaldevice case with the digital device, the digital device case includingthe lenslet array, the optical detector array, the signal amplifier andfilter, the format converter, and the port. Alternately, the digitaldevice may comprises the lenslet array, the optical detector array, thesignal amplifier and filter, the format converter, and the port.

In some embodiments, the width from one of the optical detectors of theplurality of optical detectors to an apex of the closest lenslet of theplurality of lenslets is 4 mm or smaller.

The method may further comprise collecting an optical beacon from theoptical transmitter by an imaging lens, concentrating, by the imaginglens, the optical beacon to an beacon detector in the focal plane of theimaging lens, the imaging lens, generating a beacon detector signal bythe beacon detector in response to the concentration of the beaconsignal, and generating, by a data processor, a notification based on thebeacon detector signal to indicate that additional information may bedetectable from the optical transmitter through the lenslet array and byat least one optical detector of the plurality of optical detectors.

In some embodiments, each optical detector can detect the optical signalin the 10 nm to 106 nm spectrum. The optical detector array may includea 6×6 array of optical detectors and the lenslet array may include a 6×6array of lenslets. The lenslet array may be a 2.75 mm or less square. Invarious embodiments, the receiver is a multi-channel receiver and eachoptical detector of the plurality of optical detectors is dedicated toreceive flux within an optical waveband of a channel.

The method may further comprise reducing, by a spectral filter, levelsof out-of-band flux incident on at least one side of the at least oneoptical detector of the plurality of optical detectors. In someembodiments, the method may further comprise reducing, by a spectralfilter, levels of out-of-band flux incident on the at least one beacondetector.

In some embodiments, the method may further comprise controllingdirection of the lenslet array and the optical detector array with atilt actuator. The method may further comprise controlling, by aprocessor, the tilt actuator based on transmitter position informationcalculated by the processor using a position of the beacon received atone location on the at least one beacon detector. Each lenslet of theplurality of lenslets may be approximately a 2.75 mm square with a lensthickness at the center of approximately 1.85 mm.

In accordance with one embodiment, a system, comprises a plurality oflight sources. The system further comprises a light-source driverelement adapted to receive data to be optically transmitted and tooutput modulated electrical signals representative of the received data,identical and synchronized copies of the output modulated electricalsignals driving each of the plurality of light sources. Further still,the system comprises a plurality of beamforming optics, one of each ofthe plurality of beamforming optics having an optical axis substantiallycentered on a light-emitting element of one of each of the plurality oflight sources such that the plurality of beamforming optics transmit acombination of optical beams, the combination of optical beamscomprising an optical beam output from each of the plurality ofbeamforming optics, the combination of optical beams having an opticalintensity distributed over a two-dimensional angular output region.

In accordance with some aspects, the light-source driver element maycomprise a single light source driver or a plurality of mutuallysynchronized light-source drivers. One or more of the plurality ofbeamforming optics and one or more light sources of the plurality oflight sources corresponding to the one or more of the plurality ofbeamforming optics are positioned with an angular offset. The opticalintensity distribution may be a function of a horizontal angularcoordinate and a vertical angular coordinate within the two-dimensionalangular output region. The angular offset comprises at least one of ahorizontal angular offset or a vertical angular offset relative to thetwo-dimensional angular output region. Each optical beam transmitted byeach of the plurality of beamforming optics has a uniform opticalintensity distribution that is a function of a horizontal angularcoordinate and a vertical angular coordinate within the two-dimensionalangular output region specified for each of the plurality of beamformingoptics.

In some embodiments, a first subset of the plurality of beamformingoptics collects light from a first corresponding subset of light sourcesand outputs the collected light as a modulated optical beam comprisingan optical beacon including beacon information indicative of a presenceor availability of additional or other information associated with thesystem and representative of at least a portion of the received data. Asecond subset of the plurality of beamforming optics collects light froma second corresponding subset of light sources and outputs the collectedlight as a modulated optical beam comprising an optical signal includingthe additional or other information associated with the system andrepresentative of at least another portion of the received data.

In some embodiments, the combination of optical beams comprises theoptical signals temporally interleaved with the optical beacons. In someembodiments, the combination of optical beams comprises a combination ofthe optical signals and the optical beacons, each of the optical signalsincluding a first identifier and each of the optical beacons including asecond identifier. In some embodiments, the combination of optical beamscomprises a combination of optical signals transmitted in a firstoptical wavelength band and optical beacons transmitted in a secondoptical wavelength band, the first optical wavelength band being adifferent, non-overlapping optical wavelength band than that of thesecond optical wavelength band.

In some embodiments, each of the plurality of beamforming opticscollects light from a corresponding light source and outputs thecollected light as a modulated optical beam. The modulated optical beamcomprises at least one of an optical beacon including beacon informationindicative of a presence or availability of additional or otherinformation associated with the system and representative of at least aportion of the received data or an optical signal including theadditional or other information associated with the system andrepresentative of at least another portion of the received data.

In some embodiments, the combination of optical beams comprises theoptical signals temporally interleaved with the optical beacons.

In some embodiments, the combination of optical beams comprises acombination of the optical signals and the optical beacons, each of theoptical signals including a first identifier and each of the opticalbeacons including a second identifier.

In some embodiments, the combination of optical beams comprises acombination of the optical signals modulated by the optical beacons. Insome embodiments, a first data rate used to transmit the optical beaconsis lower than a second data rate used to transmit the optical signals.In some embodiments, a modulation representative of the optical signalsis modulated by a modulation representative of the optical beacons,wherein the received data comprises: beacon information indicative of apresence or availability of additional or other information associatedwith the system; and signal information comprising the additional orother information associated with the system.

In accordance with some embodiments, each of the plurality ofbeamforming optics comprises a wineglass collimator including a firstportion and a second portion each of which being rotationally symmetricabout the optical axis substantially centered on the light-emittingelement of a corresponding light source, the first portion of thewineglass collimator having a broad middle body between a narrowcircular first entrance pupil and a narrow circular first exit pupil,the broad middle body having a first diameter greater than a seconddiameter of the narrow circular first entrance pupil and greater than athird diameter of the narrow circular first exit pupil, the secondportion of the wineglass collimator having a flared body between anarrow circular second entrance pupil and a broad circular second exitpupil, the narrow second entrance pupil being coupled to, and having thesame diameter as, the narrow circular first exit pupil, a fourthdiameter of the broad second exit pupil being greater than the firstdiameter of the broad middle body of the first portion, the narrow firstentrance pupil positioned near the corresponding light source to receivelight from the corresponding light source and emit the light from thebroad second exit pupil.

In accordance with one embodiment, an optical receiver assemblycomprises an optical beacon receiver configured to: detect and receivean optical beacon from an optical transmitter assembly; and extractidentification information from the received optical beacon, wherein theextracted identification information identifies a source of the opticaltransmitter assembly. The optical receiver assembly further comprises anoptical signal receiver configured to: detect and receive an opticalsignal from the optical transmitter assembly; and extract informationfrom the received optical signal.

In some aspects, the optical beacon receiver comprises a plurality ofoptical detectors. Each of the plurality of optical detectors maycomprise an optical detector array.

In some aspects, the optical beacon receiver comprises a plurality ofreceiver optics, each one of the plurality of receiver optics beingoptically aligned with a corresponding one of the plurality of opticaldetectors. The plurality of receiver optics may be positioned such thateach of their respective optical axes are parallel to each other.

In some aspects, the optical signal receiver comprises a plurality ofoptical detectors. Each of the plurality of optical detectors maycomprise an optical detector array.

In some aspects, the optical signal receiver comprises a plurality ofreceiver optics, each one of the plurality of receiver optics beingoptically aligned with a corresponding one of the plurality of opticaldetectors. Each of the plurality of receiver optics may be positionedsuch that each of their respective optical axes are parallel to eachother.

In some embodiments, the optical receiver assembly further comprises anon-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions storedthereon that, when executed by a processor, causes the system to:display on a graphical user interface, based on the identificationinformation extracted from the received optical beacon, a visualrepresentation of the source overlaid over a live display of a field ofview of a video camera; receive data at the graphical user interfacecorresponding to user input selecting the visual representation of thesource; and in response to receiving the data, display on the graphicaluser interface, a visual representation of the information extractedfrom the received optical signal.

In accordance with one embodiment, a method for presenting an augmentedreality experience utilizing optically narrowcast information comprises:capturing a live scene; detecting the presence of a beacon; determiningan angular position of the beacon; extracting identification data fromthe beacon indicative of a source of the beacon; augmenting the livescene with an augmented reality representation of the beacon's angularpositioning and identification data; receiving a selection regarding theaugmented reality representation; extracting descriptive data from anoptical signal transmitted by the source of the beacon or an opticalsignal source associated with the source of the beacon; and presentingthe extracted descriptive data.

In accordance with one aspect, the presenting of the extracteddescriptive data comprises augmenting the live scene with an augmentedreality representation of the extracted descriptive data in conjunctionwith or as a replacement for the augmented reality representation of thebeacon's angular positioning and identification data. The presenting ofthe extracted description data may occur on a user device with which thelive scene is captured.

The method may further comprise pointing one or more optical receiversin a direction of the source of the beacon based on the angular positionof the beacon. Moreover, the method may comprise forwarding theextracted descriptive data to one or more applications that whenexecuted cause one or more processors to display the extracteddescription data.

The one or more processors may comprise an additional user device otherthan a user device with which the live scene is captured. The method mayfurther comprise forwarding the extracted descriptive data to one ormore applications that when executed cause one or more processors todisplay a website associated with the source of the beacon. Theextracted descriptive data may comprise a universal resource locatordirecting the one or more applications to the website, wherein the oneor more applications comprise a web browser. The extracted descriptivedata may comprise advertising information associated with one or moreobjects of interest within a field of view of the captured live scene.The extracted descriptive data may comprise advertising informationregarding an entity associated with at least one of the source of thebeacon or the optical signal source.

In accordance with one embodiment, a system comprises a camera adaptedto capture a live scene, and an optical beacon receiver adapted to:detect the presence of a beacon; determine an angular position of thebeacon; and extract identification data from the beacon indicative of asource of the beacon. The system further comprises one or moreprocessors operatively connected to a non-transitory computer-readablemedium having computer executable program code embodied thereon, thecomputer executable program code, when executed, cause the one or moreprocessors to augment the live scene with an augmented realityrepresentation of the beacon's angular positioning and identificationdata. The system further comprises an optical signal receiver adapted toextract descriptive data from an optical signal transmitted by thesource of the beacon or an optical signal source associated with thesource of the beacon upon receiving a selection regarding the augmentedreality representation. Additionally, the computer executable programcode, when executed, further causes the one or more processors topresent the extracted descriptive data.

In presenting the extracted descriptive data, the one or more processorsmay augment the live scene with an augmented reality representation ofthe extracted descriptive data in conjunction with or as a replacementfor the augmented reality representation of the beacon's angularpositioning and identification data. The presentation of the extracteddescription data can occur on a display operatively connected to thecamera with which the live scene is captured.

Moreover, the computer executable program code, when executed, furthercauses the one or more processors to forward the extracted descriptivedata to one or more applications that when executed cause one or moreprocessors to display the extracted description data. The one or moreapplications are executed on the system or a user device remotelylocated from the system.

The computer executable program code, when executed, further causes theone or more processors to forward the extracted descriptive data to oneor more applications that when executed cause one or more processors todisplay a website associated with the source of the beacon. Inaccordance with some aspects, the extracted descriptive data comprises auniversal resource locator directing the one or more applications to thewebsite, the one or more applications comprising a web browser. Inaccordance with other aspects, the descriptive data comprisesadvertising information associated with one or more objects of interestwithin a field of view of the captured live scene. In accordance withstill other aspects, the extracted descriptive data comprisesadvertising information regarding an entity associated with at least oneof the source of the beacon or the optical signal source.

The optical beacon receiver and the optical signal receiver areimplemented within a single optical receiver assembly.

In accordance with one embodiment, a method comprises: initializing, ona device, an application for displaying information extracted from amodulated optical beam by an optical receiver communicatively coupled tothe device; and displaying, on a graphical user interface of theapplication, a visual representation of the optical receiver's field ofview (FOV) overlaid over a live display of a FOV of a video camera ofthe device, wherein the displayed visual representation of the opticalreceiver's FOV is sized relative to the displayed FOV of the videocamera. In implementations, the device is a mobile device such as asmartphone or a head mounted display.

In one implementation of this method, the optical receiver is an opticalsignal receiver. In this implementation, the method further includeszooming the camera (e.g., digitally or optically), and in response tozooming the camera, resizing the visual representation of the opticalsignal receiver's field of view. In further implementations, the visualrepresentation of the optical signal receiver's field of view is notresized when the camera is panned, tilted, or rolled.

In various implementations of this method, the visual representation ofthe optical receiver's field of view comprises a geometric shape havingboundaries. For example, the geometric shape may be a polygon (e.g., arectangle or square) or an ellipse (e.g., a circle). In particularimplementations, the boundaries of the geometric shape are based on anarea of an optical signal receiver's FOV that receives optical signalsat a threshold signal to noise ratio (SNR) or a threshold bit rate.

In one implementation of this method, the optical signal receiver is acomponent of an optical receiver assembly comprising the optical signalreceiver and an optical beacon receiver. In such an implementation, theFOV of the optical signal receiver may be less than a FOV of the opticalbeacon receiver.

In one implementation of this method, the method further includes thestep of activating the optical receiver and the camera in response toinitializing the application for displaying information extracted fromthe modulated optical beam.

In one implementation of this method, the method includes the additionalsteps of: detecting an optical beacon within a field of view of anoptical beacon receiver communicatively coupled to the mobile device;extracting identification information from the received beacon; andbased on the extracted identification information, rendering, on thegraphical user interface, a visual representation of the beacon's sourceoverlaid over the live display of the FOV of the camera. In yet furtherimplementations, the method may include the steps of: estimating anangular position of the received beacon relative to the optical beaconreceiver's field of view. In such implementations, the visualrepresentation of the beacon's source may be rendered based on theestimated angular position, and the visual representation of thebeacon's source visually may represent a location of the source relativeto the live display of the FOV of the camera.

In one implementation of this method, the method includes the additionalsteps of: receiving data corresponding to user input selecting thevisual representation of the beacon's source; and in response toreceiving the data, determining if an optical signal transmitted by thebeacon's source is within the optical signal receiver's FOV. If it isdetermined that the optical signal transmitted by the beacon's source isnot within the optical signal receiver's FOV, the method may include theadditional step of displaying on the GUI a prompt to position the mobiledevice such that the visual representation of the optical signalreceiver's FOV surrounds the visual representation of the beacon'ssource. Additionally, if it is determined that the optical signaltransmitted by the beacon's source is not within the optical signalreceiver's FOV, the method may include the additional step of using atilt actuator to tilt the optical signal receiver in a direction suchthat the optical signal transmitted by the beacon's source falls withinthe optical signal receiver's FOV.

In one implementation of this method, the method includes the additionalsteps of: receiving, at the optical signal receiver, an optical signaltransmitted by the beacon's source; extracting information from thereceived optical signal; and displaying the extracted information on thegraphical user interface. The information extracted from the receivedoptical signal may include at least one of video data, audio data, ortextual data.

In one embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable medium may haveinstructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, causes asystem to: initialize an application for displaying informationextracted from a modulated optical beam by an optical receivercommunicatively coupled to a mobile device; and display, on a graphicaluser interface of the application, a visual representation of theoptical receiver's field of view (FOV) overlaid over a live display of aFOV of a video camera of the mobile device, wherein the displayed visualrepresentation of the optical receiver's FOV is sized relative to thedisplayed FOV of the video camera. In implementations of thisembodiment, the non-transitory computer-readable medium may be acomponent of a mobile device communicatively coupled to the opticalreceiver.

In one embodiment, a system includes an optical receiver assembly and amobile device communicatively coupled to the optical receiver assembly,where the mobile device comprises a camera and the non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described in the previous paragraph. Theoptical receiver assembly may include an optical signal receiverconfigured to: detect and receive an optical signal from an opticaltransmitter assembly; and extract information from the received opticalsignal. The optical receiver assembly may be physically integrated intothe mobile device or a case attached to the mobile device (e.g., asmartphone case).

In one embodiment, a method may be implemented for bidirectionalcommunication in an optical narrowcasting system. In this embodiment,the method includes: receiving, at an optical receiver assemblycommunicatively coupled to a mobile device, a first modulated opticalbeam transmitted by an optical transmitter assembly of a source;extracting information from the modulated optical beam; displaying theextracted information on a graphical user interface of an applicationpresented on the mobile device; receiving data corresponding to userinput at the graphical user interface selecting the displayedinformation; in response to receiving the data corresponding to userinput at the graphical user interface selecting the extracteddescriptive data, generating digital data to be transmitted by anoptical transmitter assembly communicatively coupled to the mobiledevice to an optical receiver assembly of the source; transferring thedigital data to the optical transmitter assembly communicatively coupledto the mobile device; and transmitting an optical beam modulated withthe digital data from the optical transmitter assembly communicativelycoupled to the mobile device.

In one implementation of this embodiment, the method further includesthe step of determining, prior to transmitting the second modulatedoptical beam, if the source's optical receiver assembly is within asignal path of an optical transmitter of the optical transmitterassembly communicatively coupled to the mobile device. In thisimplementation, the method may further include: displaying, on thegraphical user interface, an augmented reality object corresponding to atransmitting emitting region covered by the optical transmitter,displaying, on the graphical user interface, a visual representation ofthe source; and displaying a prompt to position the mobile device suchthat the visual representation of the source is within the augmentedreality object corresponding to the transmitting emitting region coveredby the optical transmitter. In such an implementation, the method mayadditionally include the step of tilting the optical transmitterassembly communicatively coupled to the mobile device such that thesource's optical receiver assembly is within a signal path of theoptical transmitter.

In one implementation of this embodiment, the modulated optical beam isan optical beacon, the information extracted from the modulated opticalbeam indicates that the source is an optical narrowcasting hotspot, andthe generated digital data is a request to access the hotspot. Inanother implementation of this embodiment, the modulated optical beam isan optical signal. In this implementation, the information extractedfrom the modulated optical beam may include information associated witha product offered for sale by the source, and the generated digital datamay be a request to conduct a transaction to purchase the product.

In one embodiment, a system comprises: an optical receiver assemblycommunicatively coupled to a mobile device, the optical receiverassembly adapted to receive a first modulated optical beam transmittedby an optical transmitter assembly of a source and extract informationfrom the modulated optical beam; and a non-transitory computer-readablemedium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by aprocessor, causes the mobile device to: display the extractedinformation on a graphical user interface; receive data corresponding touser input at the graphical user interface selecting the displayedinformation; in response to receiving the data corresponding to userinput at the graphical user interface selecting the extracteddescriptive data, generating digital data to be transmitted by anoptical transmitter assembly communicatively coupled to the mobiledevice to an optical receiver assembly of the source; and transfer thedigital data to an optical transmitter assembly communicatively coupledto the mobile device. The system may additionally include the opticaltransmitter assembly, where the optical transmitter assembly is adaptedto transmit an optical beam modulated with the digital data to anoptical receiver assembly of the source. In one implementation of thissystem, the optical receiver assembly and/or the optical transmitterassembly is/are integrated into a case attached to the mobile device.

In one implementation of this system, the modulated optical beam is anoptical beacon, the information extracted from the optical beamindicates that the source is an optical narrowcasting hotspot, andwherein the generated digital data is a request to access the hotspot.

In one embodiment, a method implemented in an optical narrowcastingad-hoc network system comprises: transmitting an optical beacon from abeacon transmitter of a first device, where the optical beacon ismodulated with information identifying the device as an opticalnarrowcasting hotspot; receiving, at an optical signal receiver of thefirst device, an optical signal from a second device, where the opticalsignal is modulated with information to be transmitted over a radiofrequency network; extracting the information from the received opticalsignal; and transmitting the information over a radio frequency networkusing a radio frequency connection interface of the first device. Inparticular implementations of this embodiment, the first device is aninternet gateway, and the second device is a mobile device.

In one implementation of this embodiment, the method further comprises:in response to transmitting the information over the radio frequencynetwork, receiving a response signal over the radio frequency networkmodulated with information; modulating the information from the responsesignal onto an optical signal; and transmitting the optical signal to anoptical signal receiver of the second device.

In one implementation of this embodiment, the method further comprises:receiving, at an optical beacon receiver of the first device, an opticalbeacon from the second device requesting access to the opticalnarrowcasting hotspot; and permitting the second device to access theoptical narrowcasting hotspot. The optical beacon may include a uniqueoptical narrowcasting identification associated with the second device,and the step of permitting the second device to access the opticalnarrowcasting hotspot may include a determination that the device istrusted based on the unique optical narrowcasting identification.

In accordance with one embodiment, a signal-enhanced media systemconfigured to enhance captured media with optically narrowcast contentmay comprise an optical receiver assembly adapted to receive theoptically narrowcast content extracted from one or more optical beamstransmitted by one or more optical transmitter assemblies. The systemmay further comprise an enhanced media component. The enhanced mediacomponent may be adapted to receive at least one media representation ofa real-world scene, and embed the optically narrowcast content within oras part of the at least one media representation to generate an enhancedmedia dataset.

The one or more optical beams may comprise an optical beacon includingbeacon information indicative of a presence or availability ofadditional or other information associated with a source of the opticalbeacon. The beacon information may further comprise informationidentifying the source of the optical beacon. In accordance with anotheraspect, the beacon information may further comprise informationregarding the source of the optical beacon. The one or more opticalbeams may comprise an optical signal including signal informationcomprising the additional or other information associated with thesource of the optical beacon.

The enhanced media component may be adapted to embed two or moreportions of the optically narrowcast content into two or more respectivemedia representations. At least one media representation may comprise atleast one of a photographic, video, or audio representation of thereal-world scene.

According to one aspect, the enhanced media dataset may comprise the atleast one of the photographic, video, or audio representations of thereal-world scene in combination with information regarding a horizontaland vertical position of each of the one or more optical transmitterassemblies. Each of the one or more optical transmitter assemblies maybe detected in a field of view of the optical receiver assembly. Inaccordance with another aspect, the enhanced media dataset may comprisethe at least one of the photographic, video, or audio representations ofthe real-world scene in combination with at least one of a timestamp ora geographical position of the optical receiver assembly associated at atime during which the optical receiver assembly received the opticallynarrowcast content.

The system may further comprise a communications interface adapted to atleast one of store or transmit the enhanced media dataset to one or moreuser devices adapted to consume the enhanced media dataset in real-timeor non-real-time.

In accordance with another embodiment, a media presentation system maycomprise one or more physical processors, and a memory having computercode being executed to cause the one or more physical processors to:receive an enhanced media dataset; detect existence of opticallynarrowcast content embedded within or as part of the enhanced mediadataset; extract some or all of the embedded optically narrowcastcontent from the enhanced media dataset; and present some or all of theembedded optically narrowcast content with a presentation of some or allof a media representation portion of the enhanced media dataset.

The media representation portion of the enhanced media dataset maycomprise at least one of a photographic, video, or audio representationof a real-world scene captured in conjunction with at least one ofbeacon information or signal information comprising the embeddedoptically narrowcast content. According to one aspect, the beaconinformation comprises information identifying a source entity from whichthe optically narrowcast content is transmitted. According to anotheraspect, the signal information comprises information other than theidentifying information that is associated with the source entity.

The embedded optically narrowcast content may be represented as one ormore interactive graphical elements overlaid on the media representationportion of the enhanced media dataset. The presentation of some or allof the media representation portion of the enhanced media dataset isnavigable to bring the one or more interactive graphical elementsrepresenting the embedded optically narrowcast content into viewcommensurate with a location of one or more optical transmitterassemblies from which the optically narrowcast content is transmitted.The presentation of some or all of the embedded optically narrowcastcontent with the presentation of some or all of the media representationportion of the enhanced media dataset may include a graphical userinterface through which one or more options for filtering the embeddedoptically narrowcast content are presented.

In accordance with another embodiment, a signal-enhanced media systemmay comprise an optical receiver adapted to receive optically narrowcastcontent extracted from one or more optical beams transmitted by anoptical transmitter. The system may further comprise a first user deviceoperatively connected to the optical receiver. The first user device maybe adapted to capture at least one media representation of a real-worldscene in which the one or more optical beams are detected, and embed theoptically narrowcast content within the at least one mediarepresentation. The system may comprise a second user device adapted to:receive an enhanced media dataset comprising some or all of the embeddedoptically narrowcast content and some or all of the at least one mediarepresentation; extract some or all of the embedded optically narrowcastcontent from the enhanced media dataset; and present some or all of theembedded optically narrowcast content in conjunction with some or all ofthe at least one media representation. The second user device may befurther adapted to at least one of download, store, or transmit some orall of the embedded optically narrowcast content to a third user device.

Other features and aspects of the disclosed method will become apparentfrom the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the featuresin accordance with embodiments of the disclosure. The summary is notintended to limit the scope of the claimed disclosure, which is definedsolely by the claims attached hereto.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure, in accordance with one or more variousembodiments, is described in detail with reference to the followingfigures. The figures are provided for purposes of illustration only andmerely depict typical or example embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example optical narrowcasting system.

FIG. 2A illustrates example components that may make up an opticaltransmitter assembly.

FIG. 2B is a flow chart illustrating example operations that may beperformed by the optical transmitter assembly of FIG. 2A and/or itscomponent parts or elements.

FIG. 3A illustrates an optical receiver assembly, including one or moreexample components that may make up the optical receiver assembly.

FIG. 3B is a flow chart illustrating example operations that can beperformed by the optical receiver assembly of FIG. 3A and/or itscomponent parts or elements.

FIG. 4A illustrates an example of an optical receiver assemblyattachment.

FIG. 4B illustrates an example of an optical receiver assembly that isincorporated into a device.

FIG. 5A illustrates a frontal view of an automobile in which an opticalreceiver assembly is installed in and electronically interfaced with avehicle.

FIG. 5B illustrates an example interior view of the automobile of FIG.5A.

FIG. 6 illustrates a user device that is operatively and/orcommunicatively connected to an optical receiver assembly.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating example operations that may beperformed by a user/controlling device and optical receiver assemblywithin an optical narrowcasting system.

FIG. 8 is a depiction of an example optical transmitter assembly.

FIG. 9 depicts an example functional block diagram of an opticaltransmitter assembly.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for optical narrowcast transmission of data insome embodiments.

FIG. 11 is a depiction of an example optical transmitter assembly.

FIG. 12A depicts a three-dimensional perspective view of beamformingoptics with traced rays from a light source.

FIG. 12B depicts another three-dimensional perspective view ofbeamforming optics with traced rays from a light source.

FIG. 13 depicts a side view of an example beamforming optic with tracedrays from a light source.

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view of an example axisymmetric reflectivecollimator.

FIG. 15 depicts a three-dimensional view of an example of a wineglasscollimator for use in beamforming optics.

FIG. 16 depicts an example lenslet array.

FIG. 17 depicts an example pair of lenslet arrays.

FIG. 18a is a surface plot of the output intensity distribution as afunction of a horizontal angle and a vertical angle produced by a singlebeamforming optic consisting of a wineglass collimator and lensletarrays in some embodiments.

FIG. 18b is a surface plot of a portion of the combined output intensitydistribution as a function of angle produced by six identicalbeamforming optics of the same type used to generate the results of FIG.18a in some embodiments.

FIG. 19a is a graph of vertical slices taken through the center and athorizontal coordinates of ±4° relative to the center of the sameintensity distribution produced by a single beamforming optic in someembodiments that is depicted as a surface plot in FIG. 18 a.

FIG. 19b is a graph of vertical slices taken through the center of thebeam and at horizontal coordinates of ±4° relative to the center of thesame intensity distribution produced by the six beamforming optics insome embodiments that is depicted as a surface plot in FIG. 18 b.

FIG. 20a is a graph of horizontal slices taken through the center of thebeam and at vertical coordinates of ±3.95° relative to the center of thesame intensity distribution produced by a single beamforming optic insome embodiments that is depicted as a surface plot in FIG. 18 a.

FIG. 20b is a graph of horizontal slices taken through the center of thebeam and at vertical coordinates of ±3.95° relative to the center of thesame intensity distribution produced by the six beamforming optics insome embodiments that is depicted as a surface plot in FIG. 18 b.

FIG. 21a depicts a simplified schematic diagram of an example OTAutilizing multiple light sources and beamforming optics.

FIG. 21b depicts an example combined optical beam output from an OTAutilizing multiple light sources and beamforming optics.

FIG. 22 depicts an example of the optical power output (in arbitraryunits) as a function of time for an optical beacon operating in the800-900 nm band, as well as for an optical signal operating in the900-1000 nm band, where the bit rates for the optical beacon and theoptical signal are 333.33 kHz and 1 MHz, respectively.

FIG. 23 depicts three plots of temporal waveforms of transmitted outputbeams for an example of double modulation.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram of an example digital device.

FIG. 25 is a depiction of an example optical receiver assembly.

FIG. 26a schematically depicts an ORA that utilizes a single OSR and asingle OBR.

FIG. 26b schematically depicts an ORA utilizing multiple OSRs.

FIG. 27 depicts a functional block diagram of an optical receiverassembly.

FIG. 28a is a flow diagram depicting a process of receiving opticalsignals by an optical receiver assembly.

FIG. 28b is a flow diagram depicting a process of receiving opticalbeacons by an optical receiver assembly.

FIG. 29a is a three-dimensional depiction of a detector and a beam ofcollimated rays traced through a lenslet, which focuses (i.e.,concentrates) the rays onto the light-sensitive surface of a detector.

FIG. 29b depicts a three-dimensional view of an array of lenslets.

FIG. 30 depicts a diagonal cross-section (i.e., taken from one corner ofthe square entrance pupil to the corner on the opposite side) through anoptical axis of an aspherical lenslet that may be used in an opticalassembly.

FIG. 31a depicts a specification of an example detector.

FIG. 31b depicts a plot of the PIN-HR008 detector's spectral response.

FIG. 31c is a plot of the spectral response of an example opticalbandpass filter that may be used in conjunction with the PIN-HR0080detector to reduce detector noise due to background radiation.

FIG. 32 is a depiction of a photodiode array using PIN-HR0080 detectorswith dimensions in millimeters.

FIG. 33 depicts the irradiance distribution produced on a singledetector (e.g., one of the detectors in the detector array of FIG. 32)of the OSR using the lenslet array of FIG. 29b as an OSR optic when theincident beam from an optical transmitter is centered on the FOV of theOSR.

FIG. 34 depicts the irradiance distribution produced on a singledetector when the transmitted beam is incident at an angle of 1.8°(i.e., half the width of the OSR's FOV) relative to the center of theFOV.

FIG. 35 illustrates an example ad-hoc optical narrowcasting networkenvironment.

FIG. 36A illustrates an example graphical user interface for settingad-hoc networking settings that may be implemented in embodiments.

FIG. 36B illustrates an example graphical user interface for settingad-hoc networking settings that may be implemented in embodiments.

FIG. 36C illustrates an example graphical user interface for settingad-hoc networking settings that may be implemented in embodiments.

FIG. 37 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method that may beimplemented by a device to create or extend an RF network using anoptical narrowcasting ad hoc network.

FIG. 38 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method that may beimplemented by a device to access an RF network over an opticalnarrowcasting ad hoc network.

FIG. 39 depicts a block diagram of an example of an OTA presentation andselection system according to some embodiments.

FIG. 40 depicts a flowchart of an example method for presentinggraphical representations of OTAs according to some embodiments.

FIG. 41 depicts a flowchart of an example of a method for filteringoptical transmitter assemblies or representations thereof according tosome embodiments.

FIG. 42 depicts a flowchart of an example of a method for providingnotifications according to some embodiments.

FIG. 43 depicts a flowchart of an example of a method for predicting oneor more OTAs that may be of interest to a user according to someembodiments.

FIG. 44 depicts a flowchart of an example of a method for enhancingsignal information using a supplemental communication connectionaccording to some embodiments.

FIG. 45 depicts a block diagram of an example optical narrowcastingmobile device configured to provide GUIs for optical narrowcasting inaccordance with embodiments.

FIG. 46 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method 4600 ofrendering an augmented reality display of an optical receiver's field ofview in accordance with embodiments.

FIG. 47A illustrates an example display of an augmented realitygraphical user interface showing a field of view augmented realityobject.

FIG. 47B illustrates an example display of the augmented realitygraphical user interface of FIG. 47A showing the field of view augmentedreality object after zooming a camera.

FIG. 48 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method of rendering anaugmented reality display of detected optical transmitter assemblies orsources of optical transmitter assemblies in accordance withembodiments.

FIG. 49A illustrates an example display of an augmented realitygraphical user interface displaying an icon associated with a businesstransmitting a beacon that was detected by an optical receiver assemblyof a mobile device.

FIG. 49B illustrates an example display of an augmented realitygraphical user interface displaying a plurality of icons associated withcorresponding optical transmitter assemblies.

FIG. 50A is a flow diagram illustrating an example graphical userinterface method that may be implemented by a mobile device to extractdescriptive data from detected optical transmitter assemblies inaccordance with embodiments.

FIG. 50B illustrates an example graphical user interface displayingdescriptive data extracted from an optical signal received from anoptical transmitter assembly.

FIG. 51 is a flow diagram illustrating an example graphical userinterface method of dynamically presenting descriptive data extractedfrom an optical signal transmitted by an optical transmitter assembly.

FIG. 52A illustrates an example display of a graphical user interfacefor retrieving optical signal information transmitted by an opticaltransmitter assembly.

FIG. 52B illustrates an example display of a graphical user interfacefor retrieving optical signal information transmitted by an opticaltransmitter assembly.

FIG. 52C illustrates an example display of a graphical user interfaceafter retrieving optical signal information including a video.

FIG. 52D illustrates an example display of a graphical user interfaceafter extracting all optical signal information received from an opticaltransmitter assembly.

FIG. 52E illustrates an example display of a graphical user interfaceafter user input selecting a photo-gallery icon displayed by thegraphical user interface of FIG. 52D.

FIG. 52F illustrates an example display of a graphical user interfaceafter user input selecting a product-listing icon displayed by thegraphical user interface of FIG. 52D.

FIG. 52G illustrates an example display of a graphical user interfaceafter user input selecting a fragrance product category shown in FIG.52F.

FIG. 52H illustrates an example display of a graphical user interfaceafter user input selecting a women's fragrances product category shownin FIG. 52G.

FIG. 52I illustrates an example display of a graphical user interfaceafter user input selecting a particular fragrance shown in FIG. 52H.

FIG. 53 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method ofcommunicating with an entity over an optical narrowcasting network inresponse to user input received at a graphical user interface thatpresents optical signal information received from the entity.

FIG. 54 illustrates an example augmented reality optical narrowcastinggraphical user interface for a shop-window or in-store display that maybe presented by running an optical narrowcasting application on a mobiledevice.

FIG. 55A illustrates an example augmented reality graphical userinterface that may be presented in an airplane environment by running anoptical narrowcasting application on a mobile device.

FIG. 55B illustrates an example augmented reality graphical userinterface after user input selecting an augmented reality object shownin FIG. 55A.

FIG. 55C illustrates an example augmented reality graphical userinterface after user input selecting a menu item shown in FIG. 55B.

FIG. 56 is a flow diagram illustrating an example graphical userinterface method of implementing optical narrowcasting in a vehicle.

FIG. 57A illustrates an example display of an optical narrowcastinggraphical user interface that may be provided by a vehicle to a driverand/or passenger interested in purchasing real estate.

FIG. 57B illustrates an example display of an optical narrowcastinggraphical user interface that may be provided by a vehicle to a driverand/or passenger after filtering information displayed on the graphicaluser interface of FIG. 57A.

FIG. 57C illustrates an example display of an optical narrowcastinggraphical user interface that may be provided by a vehicle to a driverand/or passenger after user input selecting an icon associated with ahome for sale shown in FIG. 57B.

FIG. 58A is a flow chart illustrating example operations that may beperformed for embedding optically narrowcast content in media content.

FIG. 58B is a flow chart illustrating example operations that may beperformed to retrieve information or data embedded in a signal-enhancedmedia.

FIG. 59A illustrates a scenario in which a user may utilize a userdevice to capture an image or video of a group of individuals.

FIG. 59B illustrates an example view of a signal-enhanced photo taken inaccordance with the example scenario illustrated in FIG. 59A.

FIG. 60 illustrates an example computing module that may be used toimplement various features of the methods disclosed herein.

The figures are not exhaustive and do not limit the disclosure to theprecise form disclosed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Definitions

As used herein, an “optical narrowcasting system” or “ONS” is a systemthat can transmit information from one or more locations to one or moreother locations using one or more digitally modulated optical beamstransmitted through one or more propagation media. Contemplatedpropagation media may include, but are not limited to, air, water, glasswindows, and the vacuum of space. An ONS may include one or more opticaltransmitter assemblies (OTAs) to transmit optical beams to one or moreoptical receiver assemblies (ORAS).

As used herein, an “optical beam” is a directed beam of electromagneticradiation having wavelengths in a spectral region ranging fromapproximately 10 nm (e.g., extreme ultraviolet (UV) radiation) toapproximately 10⁶ nm (e.g., far infrared (IR) radiation). As used hereinto refer to an optical beam, the term “directed” beam can refer toenergy, e.g., light energy sent in a specific range of propagationdirections, but not in other directions. For example, a laser may emit anarrow directed beam of light, whereas the sun may be understood to emitundirected light that propagates outward in all possible directions.

As used herein, an “optical transmitter assembly” or “OTA” is a deviceincluding electronics, software (and/or firmware), and one or moreoptical transmitters (OTs). An OTA may be an element of an ONS. TheOT(s) within an OTA can provide the functionality of at least oneoptical beacon transmitter (OBT) and/or at least one optical signaltransmitter (OST). In some implementations, a single OT may function asboth an OBT and an OST. In other implementations, the OBT(s) and OST(s)of an OTA can be separate devices. An OTA may also contain one or moretilt actuators allowing it to control the pointing direction(s) of theoptical beam(s) output by its OT(s). An OTA's electronics and associatedsoftware (and/or firmware) may perform various useful functions, suchas: providing an interface between the OTA and its user(s) (or itsusers' devices); supplying timing pulses and electrical power to itsOT(s); controlling the operation of the OT(s) (e.g., turning them on andoff, setting their data-transmission rate, etc.); transferring digitaldata to the OT(s) for them to output as one or more digitally modulatedoptical beams; and controlling one or more tilt actuators to alter thepointing direction(s) of the output optical beam(s).

As used herein, an “optical transmitter” or “OT” is a device includingone or more optical sources, one or more beam-forming optics, andelectronics with associated software (and/or firmware) adapted totransmit optical beams. One or more OTs may form at least part of anOTA. The optical sources may be coherent (e.g., lasers) or incoherent(e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)). The optical output of each opticalsource may be electronically modulated at a desired bit rate (or at oneof a user-selectable range of bit rates) to transmit digital data in theform of a series of one-bits and zero-bits. The optical source(s)produce optical radiation in a desired optical waveband. Eachbeam-forming optic may collect flux emitted by one or more opticalsource(s) and utilize refraction, reflection, and/or diffraction toconcentrate it into a transmitted beam having a desired angularintensity distribution. In some cases, the beam-forming optic may alsoinclude one or more spectral filters to minimize the amount of fluxtransmitted outside of the desired waveband. Multiple OTs could in someimplementations be used in a single OTA to increase the solid angle ofthe output beam and/or to increase the output intensity in certainsolid-angular regions. The electronics and associated software (and/orfirmware) of an OT may perform the following functions: receive and (ifnecessary) modify timing pulses and electrical power sent to it by theOTA of which it is a component; receive and properly interpret variouscontrol signals sent to it from the OTA; and receive from the OTA, datain digital electronic form that it will then output in digital opticalform.

As used herein, an “optical beacon transmitter” or “OBT” is a type of OTthat produces a beacon associated with an OTA. An “optical beacon” or“beacon” is a modulated optical beam containing information that allowsan ORA to detect the presence of an OTA. An optical beacon makes a useror entity receiving optically transmitted information aware of thepresence or availability of information transmitted by the OTAassociated with the beacon. In addition to detecting the presence of theOTA, a beacon produced by an OBT may also contain information allowingan optical receiver assembly (ORA) to identify the entity (e.g.,business, organization, private individual, product, landmark, etc.) andtype (i.e., category) of entity (e.g., restaurant, department store,movie theater, etc.) with which the OTA is associated. A beacon may alsobe used by an OBR to determine the angular position of the OTA. In someembodiments, the angular position, e.g., horizontal and/or verticalangular position, of the OTA can be determined based on informationoptically transmitted within or as part of the optical beacon. Forexample, latitudinal, longitudinal, and altitudinal informationindicative of the location of an OTA may be transmitted in a beacon. Insome embodiments, one or more measurements made by an OBR of thepropagation direction of an optical beacon can be used by the OBR toderive, calculate, or otherwise determine an angular position of the OTAwithin the FOV of the OBR. As mentioned previously, a single OT withinan OTA may function as both an OBT and an OST, or the OBT(s) and OST(s)within an OTA may be separate devices.

As used herein, an “optical signal transmitter” or “OST” is a type of OTthat produces an optical signal associated with an OTA. An “opticalsignal” is a modulated optical beam containing information, other thaninformation contained in an optical beacon, which the operators of anOTA desire to transmit to optical receiver assemblies (ORAs). Thepurpose of an OST is to transmit information to ORAs that have alreadydetected the OTA of which the OST is a component. In some instances, theORAs may have also identified and determined the angular location of theOTA prior to receiving optical signals transmitted by the OTA. A singleOT within an OTA may function as both an OBT and an OST, or the OBT(s)and OST(s) within an OTA may be separate devices.

A modulated optical beam produced by an OTA may contain both opticalbeacons and optical signals. Alternatively, a modulated optical beam maycontain only one or more optical beacons and no optical signals, or itmay contain only one or more optical signals and no optical beacons. Forexample, an OTA may simultaneously output two separate optical beams,one being an optical beacon and another being an optical signal, wherethe optical beacon has a different wavelength spectrum than the opticalsignal.

As used herein, the term “optical information” generally refers toinformation extracted from a modulated optical beam or used to modulatean optical beam. Optical information may include identification dataextracted from or contained in an optical beacon (e.g., identifying aparticular OTA and/or source of the OTA) and descriptive data extractedfrom or contained in an optical signal (e.g., an advertisement or othermessage). This data may comprise machine-readable and/or human-readabledata, such as text, video, audio, metadata, or other types ofinformation.

As used herein, an “optical receiver assembly” or “ORA” is a deviceincluding electronics, software (and/or firmware), and one or moreoptical receivers (OR). The OR(s) within an ORA can provide thefunctionality of at least one optical beacon receiver (OBR) and/or atleast one optical signal receiver (OSR). An ORA may be an element of anONS. In some cases, an ORA may also contain one or more tilt actuatorsallowing it to control the directions from which its OBR(s) and OSR(s)can receive modulated optical beams. An ORA can perform one or more ofthe following functions. It may detect the presence of beaconstransmitted by OTAs. It may extract information from beacons, such asthe identities of the entities (e.g., businesses, organizations, privateindividuals, products, landmarks, etc.) with which OTAs are associated.It may determine the angular positions of OTAs by sensing the directionof incidence of beacons or extracting positioning information therefrom.It may receive and/or extract data from optical signals transmitted byOTAs. An ORA's electronics and associated software (and/or firmware)perform various useful functions, such as: providing an interfacebetween the ORA and its user(s) (or its users' devices); supplyingtiming pulses and electrical power to its OBR(s) and OSR(s); controllingthe operation of its OBR(s) and OSR(s) (e.g., turning them on and off,setting their data-reception rate, etc.); receiving and transferring tousers (or to users' devices) information, such as identifyinginformation and angular position, obtained by its OBR(s) regarding OTAsthat have been detected; receiving and transferring to users (or tousers' devices) data received from OTAs by its OSR(s); and controllingone or more tilt actuators to alter the pointing direction(s) of one ormore OBRs and one or more OSRs.

As used herein, an “optical beacon receiver” or “OBR” is a deviceadapted to receive an optical beacon that may make up at least part ofan ORA. An OBR may detect the presence of one or more OTAs. An OBR mayalso identify the entities (e.g., businesses, organizations, or privateindividuals) with which OTAs are associated through, e.g., informationcontained within an optical beacon, as well as determine the angularpositions of OTAs. As noted previously, the angular positions of OTAsmay be derived from measurement(s) of the propagation direction of abeacon and/or determined from information contained within the beacon.An OBR may include, for example: one or more optical detectors ordetector arrays; one or more collection optics, each including one ormore optical components (e.g., lenses, reflectors, and/or diffractiveoptical elements); and control electronics with associated software(and/or firmware). A spectral filter may be included in each collectionoptic to reduce to low levels the out-of-band flux incident on thedetector(s). The optical detectors are capable of detecting optical fluxin the waveband and at the bit rates of beacons which the OBR isdesigned to receive. In some cases an OBR could share some or all of itsdetectors, collection optics, electronic hardware, and software/firmwarewith one or more OSRs within the ORA of which it is a part. Theelectronics and associated software (and/or firmware) of an OBR performat least the following functions: providing the means to receive and (ifnecessary) modify timing pulses and electrical power sent to it by theORA of which it is a part; receiving and properly interpreting variouscontrol signals sent to it by the ORA; and transferring to the ORAinformation (e.g., identifying information and angular position) it hasobtained regarding beacons it has detected and from which it hasreceived information.

As used herein, an “optical signal receiver” or “OSR” is a deviceadapted to receive optical signals and to convert the data they containinto digital or electronic form. An OSR may include one or more opticaldetectors or detector arrays, one or more collection optics, and controlelectronics with associated software (and/or firmware). The opticaldetectors are capable of detecting optical flux in the waveband and atthe bit rates of optical signals the OSR is designed to receive. Eachcollection optic can collect incident in-band flux over its entrancepupil and within its specified field of view (FOV), and utilizesrefraction, reflection, and/or diffraction to concentrate it onto one ormore of the optical detectors. A spectral filter may also be included inthe optical train to reduce to low levels, the out-of-band flux incidenton the detectors. In some cases, an OSR may share some or all of itsdetectors, collection optics, electronic hardware, and software/firmwarewith one or more OBRs within the ORA of which it is a part. Theelectronics and associated software (and/or firmware) of an OSR canperform one or more of the following functions: receive and (ifnecessary) modify timing pulses and electrical power sent to it by theORA (of which it is a part); receive and properly interpret variouscontrol signals sent to it by the ORA; and transfer to the ORA, digitaldata extracted from optical signals it has received.

Disclosed herein are systems and methods of communication that utilizenon-radio-wave-based communications channels. That is, communicationsmay be achieved through the transmission and/or receipt of informationin the form of modulated optical beams. In this way, a user or entity,such as a business wishing to transmit information, e.g., advertisinginformation, may do so by utilizing an OTA that can convert a digitalrepresentation of the information into one or more modulated opticalbeams for transmission. It should be noted that the informationtransmitted may include information disseminated by businesses and otherorganizations, including government agencies, for example, and byindividuals. Personal content, such as messages, photos, and videosshared by individuals within a social media context are other examplesof information that may be transmitted.

A characteristic of the optical communications methods and systemsdisclosed herein is that a user of an ORA designed to receiveinformation sent by one or more OTAs may not know ahead of time whatspecific optical transmitters will be sending information of interest tohim/her or where they will be located. For this reason, one aspect ofvarious embodiments is that an ORA may be equipped with one or morecomponents adapted to detect the presence of optically transmittedinformation prior to receiving that information.

A user wishing to receive the information transmitted in the form of oneor more modulated optical beams may utilize an ORA implemented within orin conjunction with a user device, such as a smartphone, to scan for anddetect the presence of available optical beacons, extract theidentifying information contained in the beacons, and display theidentifying information through, e.g., an augmented reality (AR)interface. Upon selecting a specific OTA using information extractedfrom its associated beacon and displayed on the AR interface, the user,if he/she so desires, may further obtain some or all of the informationcontained within or represented by the optical signal associated withsaid OTA through the AR interface or other information-presentationmechanism, such as a media player (e.g., advertising information in theform of digital video).

Advantages can be realized by using such an optical communicationssystem, referred to herein as an optical narrowcasting system. Forexample, optical narrowcasting systems such as those disclosed hereinmay have long-range, high-bandwidth capabilities, avoid regulatorylimitations (optical transmissions are thus far unregulated by theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) or any other regulatory body).For example, optical narrowcasting systems can provide users with theability to utilize existing hardware and/or software technologies thatare enhanced by extremely compact non-imaging optical components thathave low power needs and are energy efficient. For example, the operablerange of an optical narrowcasting system can be approximately 400 m(e.g., during the day) to approximately 1200 m (e.g., during nighttime)compared to that of WiFi that is effective within approximately 50 m.Moreover, optical narrowcasting systems are able to direct informationin one or more desired directions using, e.g., beamforming. This can beaccomplished through the use of the aforementioned non-imaging optics,whereas directionality using WiFi is not practical given the need (ofWiFi routers) to use expensive and bulky directional antennas. Regardingefficiency, optical narrowcasting networks can be up to 300 times moreenergy efficient than WiFi networks. Further still, the security thatcan be achieved in an optical narrowcasting network is much higher thanthat possible in a WiFi® network, due to the directionality of thetransmitted optical beams.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example optical narrowcasting system 100.Transmitting and/or receiving an optical beam(s) may be accomplishedusing an OTA, e.g., optical transmitter assembly 104, and an ORA, e.g.,optical receiver assembly 106. An noted previously, “optical transmitterassembly,” or “OTA,” may refer to an optical narrowcasting elementadapted to transmit one or more optical beams, and can include certainelectronics and/or circuitry, software and/or firmware, and one or moreoptical transmitters, which will be described in greater detail belowwith reference to FIG. 2. As illustrated in FIG. 1, optical transmitterassembly 104 may transmit one or more optical beams into a medium, suchas air. As alluded to previously, an optical beam may comprise one ormore of an optical beacon and an optical signal.

Optical transmitter assembly 104 may receive, modulate, convert, and/orotherwise process digital information into an optical format fortransmission as an optical beam to be received by optical receiverassembly 106. The digital information may be received by opticaltransmitter assembly 104 from one or more sources, e.g., source device102. Source device 102 may be a computer tablet, smartphone, dataserver, or other information source.

Optical transmitter assembly 104 may be installed on various fixedstructures, such as buildings, billboards, road signs, and the like. Itmay also be installed on vehicles such as automobiles and buses. Itshould be understood that these installations are merely examples andnot limiting in any way. Optical transmitter assembly 104 may also beincorporated into portable and/or handheld devices, such as smartphones,tablet computers, and head mounted displays, or it may be incorporatedinto devices intended to be attached to, or kept in close proximity to,portable and/or handheld devices, such as smartphone cases and cases fortablet computers. It should be understood that the devices mentionedhere are merely examples and not limiting in any way. Moreover, althoughoptical transmitter assembly 104 is illustrated as being associated witha single source device 102, optical transmitter assembly 104, in someembodiments, may be associated with and/or receive digital informationfrom additional source devices.

Optical receiver assembly 106 may be installed on various fixedstructures, such as buildings, billboards, road signs, and the like. Itmay also be installed on vehicles such as automobiles and buses. Itshould be understood that these installations are merely examples andnot limiting in any way. Optical receiver assembly 106 may also beincorporated into portable and/or handheld devices, such as smartphones,tablet computers, and head mounted displays, or it may be incorporatedinto devices intended to be attached to, or kept in close proximity to,portable and/or handheld devices, such as smartphone cases and cases fortablet computers. It should be understood that the devices mentionedhere are merely examples and not limiting in any way. Moreover, althoughoptical receiver assembly 106 is illustrated as being associated with asingle user device 108, optical receiver assembly 106, in someembodiments, may be associated with, controlled by, and/or share digitalinformation with additional user devices.

Optical receiver assembly 106 may be an optical narrowcasting elementadapted to receive one or more optical beams, and can include certainelectronics and/or circuitry, software and/or firmware, and one or moreoptical receivers, which will be described in detail below withreference to FIG. 4. Optical receiver assembly 106 may receive anoptical beam and demodulate, convert, and/or otherwise process theoptical beam back into digital information. Optical receiver assembly106 may transmit or forward the digital information to a receivingdevice, such as user device 108. User device 108 may be a computertablet, smartphone, network server, or other device capable of receivingand/or utilizing the digital information or data. Optical receiverassembly 106 may be integrated with user device 108 or optical receiverassembly 106 may be operatively attached to user device 108. It shouldbe noted that optical receiver assembly 106 need not be associated withonly a single user device. In some embodiments, optical receiverassembly 106 may transmit or forward received digital information tomore than one user device, e.g., via broadcasting, multicasting, etc.

It should be noted that although FIG. 1 depicts one-way communicationsbetween optical transmitter assembly 104 and optical receiver assembly106, an optical narrowcasting system may also involve two-waycommunications. For example, source device 102 and user device 108 mayeach have respective optical transmitter and optical receiver assembliesintegrated therein or operatively attached thereto. Optical beams may,in some cases, be in the visible or near-IR bands. Optical beams may beproduced using either incoherent sources (e.g., light emitting diodes(LEDs)), lasers, or other appropriate light sources. Depending on theapplication, different angular beam widths can be used. Optical beamsmay either propagate from an optical transmitter assembly directly to anoptical receiver assembly along an unobstructed line of sight (LOS), oroptical beams may propagate along an indirect, non-LOS path, utilizingdiffuse reflections from ceilings, walls, or other structures, forexample, or from suspensions of small particles (e.g., airborne dust) orliquid droplets (e.g., clouds or fog). As illustrated in FIG. 21, two ormore identical modular transmitter-optics units may be used to producecombined beams having increased horizontal and/or vertical angular beamwidths, and/or increased intensity within certain solid-angular regions.

An ad hoc network (e.g., a communications network established directlybetween two or more computers or other devices) need not rely on a basestation or other centralized access point. Such communications networksare generally established on a temporary basis between a small number ofparticipants in close physical proximity for a specific common purpose,such as sharing a set of documents being written by the participants orplaying multi-player computer games. In some embodiments, two or moreuser devices (one embodiment of which can be user device 108) may eachcomprise optical transmitter assemblies and optical receiver assemblies(embodiments of which can be optical transmitter assembly 104 andoptical receiver assembly 106 of FIG. 1). The two or more user devicesmay be used to transmit and receive data via optical beams, therebycreating an ad hoc optical narrowcasting network.

FIG. 2A illustrates example components that may make up opticaltransmitter assembly 104. Optical transmitter assembly 104 may include adata interface 104 a. Data interface 104 a may comprise electronicsand/or circuitry, as well as associated software (and/or firmware)adapted to provide an interface between optical transmitter assembly 104and source device 102 (and/or a user of source device 102). For example,optical transmitter assembly 104 may be controlled by source device 102via data interface 104 a. Data interface 104 a may communicate withsource device 102 by way of a hardwired and/or wireless (e.g.,Bluetooth®) connection. One or more software applications on sourcedevice 102 may allow data files to be uploaded to a memory unit ofoptical transmitter assembly 104 via data interface 104 a. These one ormore software applications may also allow a user to send commandsinstructing optical transmitter assembly 104 to optically transmit thecontents of one or more data files that have been uploaded to opticaltransmitter assembly 104. The user may also be able to specify values,such as bit rate, optical output intensity, pulse duty cycle, and otherrelevant operating parameters for optical transmitter assembly 104.

Optical transmitter assembly 104 may include control electronics 104 b.Control electronics 104 b may receive the above-noted values that havebeen input by the user and utilized to control operation of opticaltransmitter assembly 104. For example, control electronics 104 b maysupply timing pulses and electrical power to the optical transmitters,control the operation of one or more optical transmitters, e.g., opticalbeacon transmitter 104 c and optical signal transmitter 104 d, (forexample, by turning them on and off, setting their data-transmissionrate, etc.). Control electronics 104 b may effectuate the transfer ofdigital data to one or more of the optical transmitters to be output asone or more digitally modulated optical beams.

In some embodiments, optical transmitter assembly 104 may also compriseone or more tilt actuators, such as microelectromechanical systems(MEMS) actuators, that allow optical transmitter assembly 104 to controldirection(s) in which one or more optical beams may be pointed uponbeing output. For example, optical beacon transmitter 104 c, opticalsignal transmitter 104 d, and/or combined optical transmitter 104 e maybe mounted or otherwise incorporated into optical transmitter assembly104 via a connection that allows for the one or more tilt actuators tomove the transmitters. Control electronics 104 b may control operationof the one or more tilt actuators.

Optical transmitter assembly 104 may include one or more opticaltransmitters adapted to process digital information received from, e.g.,source device 102, for transmission as an optical beam. As illustratedin FIG. 2A, some embodiments may have an optical beacon transmitter 104c and an optical signal transmitter 104 d. Optical beacon transmitter104 c may be adapted to transmit optical beacons that are specificallyintended to be received by optical beacon receivers. Optical beaconsallow the presence of optical transmitter assembly 104 to be detected.Optical beacons may allow the source (e.g., user or entity associatedwith source device 102, source device 102, and/or optical transmitterassembly 104) to be identified. Optical beacons may also allow thehorizontal and/or vertical angular position of the optical transmitterassembly 104 within the FOV of an OBR at a different location to bedetermined. This can be accomplished, for example, by an OBR utilizing alens, such as an imaging lens, to concentrate (i.e., focus) opticalbeacons incident on the lens from different directions ontocorrespondingly different locations on a detector array located in thefocal plane of the lens. The location in the detector array at which anoptical beacon is currently focused can be a measure of the currentangular position relative to the OBR's FOV of the OTA from which theoptical beacon is transmitted. That is, optical power in the form of anoptical beacon may be currently, primarily or entirely, concentrated (bythe OBR's lens) onto a detector located at a particular row and columnof the detector array used in the OBR. The OBR may be a camera that issensitive to the waveband of the optical beacon. The row and column ofthe detector array at which the optical beacon is concentrated can be acurrent estimated location (within the FOV of the OBR) of the OTA thatsent the beacon. OTA locations in this form can be mapped to analogouslocations within the FOV of an associated visible-light camera, such asthe forward-looking camera of a smartphone. This allows the locations ofOTAs to be represented on a user's real-time video display (e.g., thatof the smartphone). An icon representing the OTA can then, for example,be overlaid at this location in the real-time video display. It shouldbe noted that the horizontal and vertical angular location of an OTA canin general, be a function of time. For example if an OTA moves due to itbeing mounted on a vehicle that moves, its location within the FOV of anOBR may change. Similarly, if the ORA moves to a new location and/or istilted, the OTA location within the FOV of the OBR may also change, eventhough the OTA has stayed in the same physical location.

Optical signal transmitter 104 d may be adapted to transmit opticalsignals specifically intended to be received by optical signalreceivers. Optical signals transmit information from optical transmitterassembly 104 to optical receiver assembly 106, where optical transmitterassembly 104 and/or an entity associated with it may have already beendetected, identified, and whose horizontal and/or vertical angularposition relative to the FOV of an OBR has already been determined.Moreover, two or more optical transmitters may be implemented in opticaltransmitter assembly 104 to increase the solid angle of an outputoptical beam and/or to increase output intensity in certainsolid-angular regions.

As also illustrated in FIG. 2A, an alternative may be to utilize a“combined” optical transmitter 104 e that realizes the functionality ofboth optical beacon transmitter 104 c and optical signal transmitter 104d. For example, combined optical transmitter 104 e may comprise a singleoptical transmitter adapted to transmit both optical beacons and opticalsignals. That is, combined optical transmitter 104 e may be designed totransmit an optical beam intended to be received both by optical beaconreceivers and by optical signal receivers.

An optical transmitter, e.g., optical beacon transmitter 104 c, opticalsignal transmitter 104 d, and/or combined optical transmitter 104 e, mayinclude one or more optical sources, one or more beam-forming optics, aswell as electronics with associated software and/or firmware (see FIG.9). The optical sources may be coherent (e.g., lasers) or incoherent(e.g., LEDs). The optical output of each optical source may beelectronically modulated at a desired bit rate (or at one of auser-selectable range of bit rates) to transmit digital information inthe form of a series of one-bits and zero-bits. The optical source(s)may produce optical radiation in a desired optical waveband. Eachbeam-forming optic can collect flux emitted by the one or more opticalsources and utilizes refraction, reflection, and/or diffraction toconcentrate it into a transmitted beam having a desired angularintensity distribution. In some cases, a beam-forming optic may includeone or more spectral filters to minimize the amount of flux transmittedoutside of a desired waveband.

The electronics and associated software (and/or firmware) of an opticaltransmitter, e.g., optical beacon transmitter 104 c, optical signaltransmitter 104 d, and/or combined optical transmitter 104 e, mayperform one or more of the following functions: receiving and, ifnecessary, modifying timing pulses and/or electrical power received fromoptical transmitter assembly 104; receiving and properly interpretingvarious control signals sent to it from optical transmitter assembly104; and receiving, from, e.g., data interface 104 a by way of controlelectronics 104 b, information or data in digital form that it will thenoutput in digital optical form vis-à-vis an optical beam. It should benoted that in some embodiments, digital information or data may bereceived directly from data interface 104 a.

FIG. 2B is a flow chart illustrating example operations that may beperformed by optical transmitter assembly 104 and/or its component partsor elements. At operation 110, digital data to be optically transmittedmay be received by optical transmitter assembly 104. As described above,the digital data to be optically transmitted may be received via datainterface 104 a. For example, a user, through source device 102 mayupload a digital video advertisement to optical transmitter assembly104. At operation 112, the digital data may be converted into one ormore optical beacons and/or optical signals. For example, the digitalvideo advertisement may be converted into an optically formattedrepresentation of the digital video advertisement for transmission inthe form of an optical signal. This operation is described in greaterdetail with respect to FIG. 9, and may involve performing one or moreconversion, processing, and/or modulation operations at one or more ofoptical beacon transmitter 104 c, optical signal transmitter 104 d,and/or combined optical transmitter 104 e under the control of controlelectronics 104 b. At operation 114, the optical beacons and/or opticalsignals are transmitted by one or more of optical beacon transmitter 104c, optical signal transmitter 104 d, and/or combined optical transmitter104 e. In the case of an optical beacon, information identifying, e.g.,the user of source device 102, may be transmitted with the opticalsignal or converted into an optical beacon that is transmittedseparately.

FIG. 3A illustrates optical receiver assembly 106 in more detailincluding one or more example components that may make up opticalreceiver assembly 106. For example, optical receiver assembly 106 mayinclude one or more of an optical beacon receiver 106 a, and an opticalsignal receiver 106 b, or as an alternative, a “combined” opticalreceiver 106 c that realizes the functionality of both optical beaconreceiver 106 a and optical signal receiver 106 b. For example, combinedoptical receiver 106 c may comprise a single optical receiver adapted toreceive both optical beacons and optical signals.

In some embodiments, similar to optical transmitter assembly 104,optical receiver assembly 106 may include one or more tilt actuatorsallowing optical receiver assembly 106 to control the direction(s) fromwhich its optical beacon receiver(s) and/or optical signal receiver(s)may receive optical beams transmitted by one or more optical transmitterassemblies, e.g., optical transmitter assembly 104.

The purpose of optical receiver assembly 106, as alluded to previously,may be to detect the presence of and/or receive data (in the form ofoptical beacons and/or optical signals) transmitted by opticaltransmitter assembly 104. For example, optical receiver assembly 106 maydetect the presence of optical transmitter assemblies by detectingoptical beacons sent by them, extract identifying information fromoptical beacons regarding, e.g., entities associated with the opticaltransmitters that sent the optical beacons, determining horizontaland/or vertical angular positions of optical transmitter assemblies (bysensing the direction of incidence of the optical beacons), andreceiving information or data in the form of optical signals.

Optical receiver assembly 106 may comprise a data interface 106 e thatprovides an interface between the optical receiver assembly and one ormore users and/or user devices, e.g., user device 108. Data interface106 e may be responsible for receiving and transferring to users (or tousers' devices, e.g., user device 108) information, such as identifyinginformation and horizontal and/or vertical angular positions obtained byoptical beacon receiver 106 a regarding detected optical beacons. Datainterface 106 e may be responsible for receiving and transferring tousers (or to users' devices, e.g., user device 108) data received via anoptical signal by optical signal receiver 106 b, for example. Opticalreceiver assembly 106 may be interfaced with user device 108 by way of awired or wireless connection via data interface 106 e. Software residenton user device 108 may be utilized by a user to operate optical receiverassembly 106. Additionally, the user may be able to specify the range ofbit rates for signals to be received, error-correction methods to beused, and/or various other receiver operating parameters using userdevice 108, where the operating parameters may be transmitted to opticalreceiver assembly 106 via data interface 106 e.

Optical receiver assembly 106 may comprise control electronics 106 d.Control electronics 106 d may supply timing pulses and electrical powerto optical beacon receiver 106 a, optical signal receiver 106 b, oralternatively, to combined optical receiver 106 c. Control electronics106 d may control the operation of optical beacon receiver 106 a,optical signal receiver 106 b, or alternatively, combined opticalreceiver 106 c (e.g., turning them on and off, setting the data-outputformat, etc.). Data interface 106 e may control the one or more tiltactuators that can be used to alter the direction(s) in which of one ormore optical beacon receivers and/or one or more optical signalreceivers may be pointed.

Optical beacon receiver 106 a and/or combined optical receiver 106 c maybe adapted to detect the presence of one or more transmitted opticalbeams, distinguishing them from incident in-band radiation produced byradiation sources other than optical transmitters of an opticalnarrowcasting system (e.g., natural and artificial illuminationsources). Optical beacon receiver 106 a and/or combined optical receiver106 c may be configured to determine a horizontal and vertical angularposition of one or more transmitted optical beams within its field ofview (FOV). Optical beacon receiver 106 a and/or combined opticalreceiver 106 c may receive identifying information from one or moreoptical transmitter assemblies, e.g., optical transmitter assembly 104,whose optical beacons it has detected and received. For example, anoptical transmitter assembly operated by a restaurant may transmit anoptical beacon containing the (digitally encoded) name of the restaurantand/or type of restaurant in a format intended to be received by opticalbeacon receiver 106 a and/or combined optical receiver 106 c.

Optical beacon receiver 106 a and/or combined optical receiver 106 c mayinclude one or more optical detectors or detector arrays, one or morecollection optics, each including one or more optical components (e.g.,lenses, reflectors, and/or diffractive optical elements), as well as itsown control electronics with associated software (and/or firmware). Aspectral filter may be included in each collection optic to increasecommunication range by reducing to low levels the out-of-band fluxincident on the detector(s). Optical beacon receiver 106 a and/orcombined optical receiver 106 c may be capable of detecting optical fluxin the waveband and at the bit rates used by optical transmitters totransmit optical beacons it is designed to detect. The component partsof optical beacon receiver 106 a and/or combined optical receiver 106 care described in greater detail with respect to FIGS. 26-27.

In some cases, an optical beacon receiver may share some or all of itsdetectors, collection optics, electronic hardware, and software/firmwarewith one or more optical signal receivers, an embodiment of which may becombined optical receiver 106 c. The electronics and associated software(and/or firmware) of optical beacon receiver 106 a and/or combinedoptical receiver 106 c can perform at least one or more of the followingfunctions: receive and (if necessary) modify timing pulses andelectrical power sent to it by optical receiver assembly 106; receiveand properly interpret various control signals sent to it by opticalreceiver assembly 106; and transfer to optical receiver assembly 106,information (e.g., identifying information and angular position) it hasobtained regarding optical beacons it has detected.

Optical signal receiver 106 b and/or combined optical receiver 106 c mayreceive optical signals from one or more optical transmitter assemblies,e.g., optical transmitter assembly 104. Optical signal receiver 106 band/or combined optical receiver 106 c may convert the opticallyformatted digital data into digital data in electronic form. Similar tooptical beacon receiver 106 a, optical signal receiver 106 b and/orcombined optical receiver 106 c may include one or more opticaldetectors or detector arrays, one or more collection optics, and controlelectronics with associated software (and/or firmware). In the case ofcombined optical receiver 106 c, the component parts of optical beaconreceiver 106 a may be adapted to also operate as an optical signalreceiver. The optical detectors can detect optical flux in the wavebandand at the bit rates used by optical transmitters to transmit opticalsignals and/or optical beacons it is designed to receive. Eachcollection optic may collect incident in-band flux over its entrancepupil and within its specified FOV, and utilize refraction, reflection,and/or diffraction to concentrate it onto one or more of the opticaldetectors. A spectral filter may also be included in each receiver opticto increase communication range by reducing the out-of-band fluxincident on the detectors to lower levels.

It should be noted that one or more of the aforementioned optics and/ordetectors or detector arrays that, in part, make up optical beaconreceiver 106 a, optical signal receiver 106 b, and/or combined opticalreceiver 106 c may be custom manufactured and/or commercially available.For example, one or more refractive optics may be customized withrespect to one or more optical characteristics or properties such thatits operation may be optimized for use in optical receiver assembly 106.For example, one or more optical detectors or detector arrays may becommercially available near-IR detectors or detector arrays.

The electronics and associated software (and/or firmware) of opticalsignal receiver 106 b and/or combined optical receiver 106 c can performone or more of the following functions: receive and (if necessary)modify timing pulses and electrical power sent by the optical receiverassembly 106; receive and properly interpret various control signalssent to it by optical receiver assembly 106; and transfer digital datareceived from one or more optical transmitters, e.g., optical signaltransmitter 104 d and/or combined optical transmitter 104 e, to opticalreceiver assembly 106. In some embodiments, the electronics andassociated software (and/or firmware) may be customized to provideappropriate electrical power to operate the optical detectors. Moreover,it should be noted that electronics hardware and/or software maycontinuously monitor the output of the optical detectors, determiningwhen an output therefrom may represent a signal sent by an opticaltransmitter—as opposed to, for example, flux received from artificial ormanmade illumination sources.

Once an optical beacon has been detected, optical receiver assembly 106may receive a related optical signal and store it as a data file in itsmemory. For example, optical receiver assembly 106 may buffer itsdetector outputs using one or more memory units or memory partitions topermit at least a portion of a given optical signal to be received priorto it being recognized as an actual optical signal. Alternatively,optical transmitter assembly 104 may transmit an optical signal thatcontains at its beginning, a short “alert”-pulse sequence. Thisalert-pulse sequence may inform optical receiver assembly 106 thattransmission of an optical signal dataset has begun, thereby allowing itto store the entire dataset in its memory, without the need forbuffering. That is, optical beacon transmitter 104 c of opticaltransmitter assembly 104 may transmit an optical beacon followed by anoptical signal that begins with an alert-pulse sequence. Theseoperations may be continuously repeated by optical transmitter assembly104. In some embodiments, each transmitted optical beacon may end withan alert-pulse sequence, rather than having an alert-pulse sequence beincluded at the beginning of each transmitted optical signal.

FIG. 3B is a flow chart illustrating example operations that can beperformed by an optical receiver assembly, e.g., optical receiverassembly 106 and/or its component parts or elements. At operation 120,optical receiver assembly 106 may detect the presence of an opticalbeacon that can be transmitted by optical transmitter assembly 104. Aspreviously discussed, an optical beacon may be an optical beamcomprising information identifying a source of the optical beacon. Anoptical beacon may also allow an optical receiver assembly 106 toestimate the horizontal and vertical angular position of its associatedoptical transmitter assembly relative to the FOV of one or more opticalbeacon receivers comprising part of the optical receiver assembly 106.At operation 122, the angular position of the optical beacon relative tothe FOV(s) of one or more optical beacon receivers is determined basedon its incident propagation direction. Because a plurality of opticalbeacons and/or optical signals may be transmitted within opticalnarrowcasting system 100, the angular position of an optical beacontransmission may be utilized to point or focus optical signal receiver106 b or combined optical receiver 106 c in the direction of opticaltransmitter assembly 104 from where the optical beacon and associatedoptical signal(s) may originate. The angular position of an opticalbeacon transmission may also be utilized for other purposes, such as toassist a user in navigating to a location at which an OTA is located. Atoperation 124, the identification information may be extracted from theoptical beacon, the identification information being indicative of orotherwise identifying the source of the optical beacon. In this context,the source of the optical beacon may be optical transmitter assembly104, source device 102 and/or a user or entity utilizing source device102 to transmit optical beams via optical transmitter assembly 104. Atoperation 126, information sent in the form of an optical signal by thesource of the optical beacon may be extracted. Again, the source of anoptical signal and the source of an optical beacon with which it isassociated may be one in the same, e.g., source device 102 or opticaltransmitter assembly 104, or alternatively a user or entity utilizingsource device 102 to transmit optical beams via optical transmitterassembly 104.

In some embodiments, optical narrowcasting system elements, such asoptical receiver assemblies, may be integrated into a device, e.g., userdevice 108. That is, user device 108 may have resident optical receiverfunctionality. Alternatively, optical receiver assemblies may beoperatively and communicatively connected to user device 108. In thiscase, an optical receiver assembly may be added to user device 108 as anattachment or enhancement. The same can be true for optical transmitterassemblies, although, in some cases, optical transmitter assemblies maybe “stand-alone” elements that are fixed at a particular location.

FIG. 4A illustrates an example of an optical receiver assemblyattachment. In the illustrated embodiment, optical receiver assembly 142may be incorporated into a user device case 140 for user device 138(e.g., a smartphone case for a smartphone device). It should be notedthat the “visible” aspects of optical receiver assembly 142 may includeone or more optical receiver elements, such as one or more lenses orlenslet arrays and one or more optical detectors. For example, opticalreceiver assembly 142 of FIG. 4A may include a lenslet array anddetectors, each lenslet in the array having an optical detector in itsfocal plane. It should be noted that the optical detectors are notvisible in FIG. 4A because they are hidden behind the lenslets. Othercomponents parts of optical receiver assembly 142 may be incorporatedinto user device case 140, but may not be visible when user device case140 is placed on user device 138.

FIG. 4B illustrates an example of an optical receiver assembly that isincorporated into a device. In particular, optical receiver assembly 150may be incorporated directly into user device 148. For example, duringthe manufacturing of user device 148, optical receiver assembly 150 maybe installed. Again, although only visible aspects of optical receiverassembly 150 are shown, other components of optical receiver assembly150 may be incorporated into user device 148 within the housing of userdevice 148.

As alluded to previously, a user may utilize a device to interact withan optical receiver assembly to input operating parameters, receivetransmitted data, control the optical receiver assembly, etc. Thesoftware/software applications may be utilized by the user to managemessages received optically. In addition, if the user is a subscriber ofa social media service, the controlling software may allow the user toaccess all of the capabilities of that service, such as postingoptically received messages, images, videos, or other information on asocial media “page,” viewing and responding to posts on other users'pages, sharing posts, etc., in the usual manner in which such tasks areperformed within the context of social media services.

To that end, FIG. 4A illustrates that user device case 140 may alsoinclude one or more communications elements that allow user device 138and optical receiver assembly 142 to communicate and/or interact. Forexample, as described above, user device 138 may be utilized by a userto input operating parameters for optical receiver assembly 142, etc. Asillustrated in FIG. 4A, one such communications element 144 may be aBluetooth® transceiver, an NFC transceiver or other communicationselement. If needed, a power supply 146 (e.g., a compact battery, anenergy harvesting sensor, or other appropriate power source) may beprovided to energize communications element 144. Here, communicationselement 144 and power supply 146 may embedded in or located on thedevice-facing side of case 140 for aesthetics and/or to gain closeroperating proximity to user device 138. It should be noted that powersupply 146 may also provide power to optical receiver assembly 142, oroptical receiver assembly 142 may have its own power source that can beused to power communications element 144. In some embodiments, opticalreceiver assembly 142 and/or communications element 144 may beintegrated into a single unit or device that may be attached to aninput/output port, such as a micro-USB or Lightning port of user device138.

In the case of user device 148, a user may control optical receiverassembly 150 and/or perform the above-noted functions and/orinteractions via a hardwired connection between optical receiverassembly 150 and one or more processors, memory units, and/or otherapplicable components of user device 148, which may be an embodiment ofa computing component illustrated in FIG. 60.

FIGS. 5A and 5B depict a contemplated implementation where an opticalreceiver assembly 152 may be installed in and electronically interfacedwith a vehicle. FIG. 5A illustrates a frontal view of an automobile 154in which an optical receiver assembly 152 is installed in automobile 154near a top portion of windshield 156 above rearview mirror 158. Opticalreceiver assembly 152 may be attached to the outside of windshield 156or on an inside surface of windshield 156. In the latter case, opticalreceiver assembly 152 may receive optical beacons and/or optical signalsthat have passed through windshield 156. Although optical receiverassembly 152 is shown to be mounted near the top of windshield 156 andabove rearview mirror 158, optical receiver assembly 152 may be mountedon a different part of windshield 156 or on another part of automobile154 entirely (e.g., on its roof) so long as it is in a position toreceive one or more optical beams.

Optical receiver assembly 152 may include an optical beacon receiver 152a and an optical signal receiver 152 b, as well as any electronicsand/or software (and/or firmware), e.g., the aforementioned controlelectronics, data interface, etc. utilized in operating optical receiverassembly 152 and/or communicating with, e.g., media and/or informationsystems resident in a vehicle such as a vehicle's navigation system,media, system, heads-up display, etc. It should be noted that theelectronics and software/firmware are not visible in the frontal viewdepicted in FIG. 5A, but are nevertheless present in optical receiverassembly 152 and/or in an associated component(s). In some embodiments,optical beacon receiver 152 a and optical signal receiver 152 b mayshare some or all of their optical components and optical detectors ordetector arrays.

FIG. 5B illustrates an example interior view of automobile 154 of FIG.5A. In FIG. 5B, a back or rear portion of optical receiver assembly 152is visible above rearview mirror 158. As is also illustrated in FIG. 5B,automobile 154 may be equipped with a display 160, such as touchscreeninformation display mounted on a dashboard 162. Display 160 may beutilized by a driver and/or passenger of automobile 154 to operateoptical receiver assembly 152 and/or view information received byoptical receiver assembly 152 from one or more optical transmitterassemblies. In some embodiments, optical receiver assembly 152 may behardwired or wirelessly connected to display 160 (or one or moreprocessors controlling display 160 (not shown)).

In some embodiments, unmodified user devices may be utilized in anoptical narrowcasting system. For example, an existing camera 138 a ofuser device 138 may be utilized as an optical receiver assembly. Asanother example, software may be used to generate a modulated opticalbeam comprising optical beacons and/or optical signals by modulating theoutput from one or more LEDs designed for use as photographic flashunits, e.g., LED 138 b of user device 138.

In some embodiments, optical receiver assemblies 142, 150, and/or 152may incorporate high-bit-rate near-IR optical detectors. High-bit-rateoptical detectors can receive data at higher bit rates than may bepossible using existing hardware of a user device, e.g., camera 138 a.

Referring back to FIG. 3B, various operations may be performed by anoptical receiver assembly to detect the presence of optical beacons,determine the angular position of optical beacons, receive identifyinginformation from optical beacons, and ultimately receive informationtransmitted via an optical signal. From a user's perspective,interactions with an optical narrowcasting system (aside from, e.g.,controlling the operation of an optical receiver assembly) can involveselecting visual representations of sources of one or more opticalbeacons that have been detected and receiving and/or interacting withinformation received from one or more optical signals.

In some embodiments, augmented reality functionality resident in oravailable through a user device, e.g., user device 108 (see FIG. 1), maybe utilized to facilitate the above-noted user interactions with one ormore aspects of optical narrowcasting system 100. FIG. 6 illustrates auser device 164 (which can be one embodiment of user device 108) that isoperatively and/or communicatively connected to an optical receiverassembly 166 (which can be one embodiment of optical receiver assembly106).

User device 164 may comprise an augmented reality component 164 a, oneor more cameras 164 b, a display 164 c (which may be a touchscreen ornon-touchscreen display), one or more speakers 164 d, and/or one or moresensors 164 e. User device 164 may, in part, embody an augmented realitydevice that is capable of displaying a real-time view of a physical,real-world environment while altering elements within the displayed viewof the environment. As such, unlike a virtual reality device whichdisplays a view of an entirely computer-generated world, an augmentedreality device displays a view of the real world but augments (e.g.,adds or modifies) elements using computer graphics technology. Such anaugmented reality device may include and/or be communicatively coupledto a camera device (or multiple camera devices) used to capture a viewof the real-world environment and may further include computer softwareand/or hardware configured to augment elements of the captured scene.For example, and as will be described in greater detail herein, anaugmented reality device could capture a series of images or a scenerepresentative of a user's view of a street, city, or other location,modify the series of images so that detected optical beacons appear asoverlaid, selectable items or icons in real-time to a user. As such, theuser can be presented with an augmented view of the physical real-worldenvironment in which the user is located.

The one or more cameras 164 b may include cameras for capturing thevisual scene. The one or more cameras 164 b may be an existing camera(s)of user device 164, which may be, for example, a smartphone. As usedherein, a visual scene refers to one or more views of the real-worldenvironment in which user device 164 is being used (and in which one ormore optical beacons and/or optical signals are being transmitted in anoptical narrowcasting system).

For example, video imagery captured by one or more cameras 164 b andpresented on display 164 c may be a live feed of an urban scene viewedfrom the perspective of a user who is utilizing user device 164 toexplore a particular city. An icon representative of an optical beacondetected by optical receiver assembly 166 may be overlaid on the scenecommensurate with the location of a source of the optical beacon. Aspreviously discussed, optical beacons may be transmitted by opticaltransmitter assemblies, and optical receiver assembly 166 may detect theoptical beacon and extract identifying information therefrom. Forexample, the overlaid icon may be representative of a hotel in the lineof sight of the user that is transmitting descriptive or advertisinginformation. There may be accompanying text that indicate the name andlocation of the source of the optical beacon, e.g., the name and addressof the hotel.

One example of one or more sensors 164 e may be an accelerometer capableof measuring the physical acceleration of user device 164, e.g., whenmanipulated by the viewer (as the user scans the urban scene to obtaininformation about one or more businesses, points of interest, etc.).User device 164 may use the accelerometer to determine when the positionof user device 164 is changing, for example, which could indicate thatthe position of user device 164 is changing relative to one or moretransmitted optical beacons and/or the scene itself. Augmented realitycomponent 164 a may also on its own or with assistance from theaccelerometer, determine the positioning of an optical beacon relativeto user device 164. It should be noted that other sensors, such as GPSreceivers, compasses, gyroscopes, and/or other sensors may be utilizedto more accurately characterize or further enhance one or more aspectsof an augmented reality experience provided by augmented realitycomponent 164 a.

Augmented reality component 164 a may control aspects of presenting theaugmented reality view of the urban scene on display 164 c, such as howoptical-beacon-derived information may be presented, e.g., via staticicons, animated elements. Augmented reality component 164 a may controlthe incorporation of position or location-aiding cues or visuals, aswell as the presentation of information extracted from one or moreoptical signals associated with the optical beacons, reacting to userinputs and/or selections, among other aspects.

For example, information received by an optical beacon receiver ofoptical receiver assembly 166 may be cached after it has been received.Caching may occur immediately after receipt. Icons/markers used torepresent detected optical beacons can be located in the augmentedreality visual scene such that the location of each of the icons/markersmay coincide with the corresponding optical transmitter assemblies'actual location within one or more cameras 164 b's FOV. Theicons/markers may “stay” in their correct locations as one or morecameras 164 b is zoomed, panned, or otherwise moved, resulting in alocation-accurate augmented reality experience.

For example, a user may select an icon representative of a particularoptical beacon by touching or otherwise actuating the icon, and asdescribed above, information regarding the source of the optical beaconmay be presented, e.g., via a pop-up window. It should be noted thattouching different areas of the pop-up window may bring up differenttypes of additional information regarding the source of the opticalbeacon. In some embodiments, the additional information may beconsidered identifying information associated with the source of theoptical beacon that can extracted from the optical beacon. In someembodiments, the additional information may be information that has beenextracted from an optical signal transmitted by the same source as thatof the optical beacon, or a related optical signal source. For example,the additional information may comprise advertising multimedia that canbe presented to the user via display 164 c and/or the one or morespeakers 164 d.

In some embodiments, one or more boxes or other representative graphicoverlaid on the display of live imagery from the camera(s) may be usedin an augmented reality experience, where the size and position of eachof the boxes can represent the size and position of an FOV associated orcommensurate with each optical signal receiver of optical receiverassembly 166. A user may take advantage of such FOV representations by,e.g., tilting user device 164 such that an icon/marker representing adetected optical beacon may be moved within one of theFOV-representative boxes. The user may select the icon/marker toinitiate optical receiver assembly 166's receipt of one or more opticalsignals corresponding to the detected optical beacon.

The augmented reality experience comprising at least the augmentedreality scene, which include one or more selectable representations(and/or associated information) of one or more detected optical beaconsand/or signals may be thought of an optical narrowcasting graphical userinterface (GUI).

In some embodiments, augmented reality component 164 a may permitrecording of the augmented reality scene and embedding any opticalbeacon-extracted information, angular positioning information, as wellas optical signal-extracted information in the resulting media file. Ifdesired, the user may disseminate the recorded scene via, e.g., socialmedia outlets, to be accessed by others. This embedding technique canallow optically transmitted information to be accessed in anon-real-time manner, not only by the user, e.g., at a later time, butby social-media subscribers or others (e.g., on social-media sites),which may provide an enhanced social-media experience for social-mediasubscribers and may significantly increase the number of viewers ofoptically narrowcast information (e.g., advertisements), as well asprovide new opportunities for social-media services to generate onlineadvertising revenue.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating example operations that may beperformed by a user/controlling device and optical receiver assembly(which, as described previously, may be embodied in a single device orin, e.g., two devices that are operatively connected) within an opticalnarrowcasting system. At operation 170, a live scene may be captured. Asdescribed above, the live scene may be one or more, or a series ofimages representative of a real-world scene. The capture can beperformed by one or more cameras of the user/controlling device, such asone or more cameras 164 b of user device 164.

At operation 172, optical receiver assembly 166 may detect the presenceof an optical beacon that can be transmitted by an optical transmitterassembly of an optical narrowcasting system. As previously discussed, anoptical beacon may be an optical beam comprising information identifyinga source of the optical beacon.

At operation 174, the horizontal and vertical angular position of theoptical beacon is determined by measuring the propagation direction ofthe optical beacon relative to the FOV of one or more optical beaconreceivers that are part of the optical receiver assembly 166. Because aplurality of optical beacons and/or optical signals may be transmittedwithin an optical narrowcasting system, the angular position of anoptical beacon transmission may be utilized to point or focus one ormore optical signal receivers of optical receiver assembly 166 in thedirection of a source from where the optical beam and an associatedoptical signal may originate. In addition, knowledge of angularpositions of optical beacons may be useful in helping the user determinethe locations of and/or navigate to optical transmitter assemblies fromwhich optical beacons have been received.

At operation 176, the identification information may be extracted fromthe optical beacon, the identification information being indicative ofor otherwise identifying the source of the optical beacon. As notedpreviously, the source of the optical beacon may be an opticaltransmitter assembly, a source device, and/or a user or entity utilizingthe source device to transmit optical beams via the optical transmitterassembly.

At operation 178, the live scene (captured at operation 170) may beaugmented with an augmented reality representation of the beacon'sposition, and identification data may be presented. As discussed,angular positioning and identifying information may be obtained from orin relation to an optical beacon and presented by augmented realitycomponent 164 a, alone or in accordance with information obtained by oneor more sensors 164 e. The augmented reality representation may includeone or more graphical representations of at least the identifyinginformation, as well as representations of the positions of receivedoptical beacons (e.g., by utilizing symbols or icons overlaid on thedisplayed live camera imagery at the locations of optical beaconsrelative to that imagery). The augmented reality representation may bepresented on display 164 c.

At operation 180, one or more selections regarding the augmented realityrepresentation may be received. A user of user device 164 may utilizedisplay 164 c, if, for example, display 164 c is a touchscreen, or someother input device or mechanism to select the augmented realityrepresentation. There may be multiple augmented reality representationspresented on display 164 c, and the user may select one that is ofinterest.

At operation 182, descriptive data or information from an optical signalsent by the source of the optical beacon or by an optical-signal sourceassociated with the source of the optical beacon may be extracted.Again, the optical-signal source and the beacon source may be one in thesame, e.g., a source device or optical transmitter assembly, oralternatively a user or entity utilizing the source device to transmitoptical beams via the optical transmitter assembly.

At operation 184, the extracted descriptive data may be presented to theuser. In some embodiments, the extracted descriptive data may bepresented in a manner that further augments the live scene or augmentedreality experience. In some embodiments, the extracted descriptive datamay be presented in or via another application or using other software,such as a media player, a web browser, etc. In some embodiments, theextracted descriptive data may be a universal resource locator (URL)that can be used to direct a web browser to display a particular webpageor website.

It should be noted that the example applications and use case scenariosdescribed herein are not limiting, and that an optical narrowcastingsystem may be utilized in many other applications or scenarios. Forexample, an optical narrowcasting system may be used to enhancemerchandise displays in stores or store windows, where informationregarding one or more products for sale may be presented to consumersthrough an augmented reality experience that leverages the informationexchange made possible by an optical narrowcasting system. For example,the optical narrowcasting system may be used to optically transmit notonly product information, but other information, such as store hoursand/or other information of interest to potential customers. Billboardsand other locations where out-of-home advertising is utilized mayleverage optical narrowcasting to make visual aspects of the advertisingmore appealing and/or viewable from farther away, while also providingmuch more information than can currently be provided via, e.g., abillboard image/text.

New social media sites and/or applications may be based on the sharingof content obtained via optical narrowcasting, and if desired,generating income through online ads appearing on these sites andapplications. For example, a social media application may allowindividuals to use smartphones and other portable devices to create andshare videos and photos containing embedded optically transmittedcontent.

In various embodiments, optical narrowcasting may be considered highlylocalized in nature, where the term “localized” can refers to theability to transmit data from one location to another with asufficiently small path length to prevent excessive bit errors. Thischaracteristic can be leveraged in a social media context to obtaininformation that might otherwise be difficult or impossible to obtainregarding the location of people sending the information. For example,one or more optical receiver assemblies may be mounted in the ceiling ofa store to collect customer feedback. The optical receiver assemblies'respective FOVs can be designed to only pick up information opticallytransmitted by people actually in the store. In addition, opticalinformation does not pass through walls, floors, or ceilings, as WiFisignals may often do. Using an array of optical receiver assemblies,detailed information about where people are within the store could alsobe obtained. This could be used to provide accurate navigation withinthe store, with a search feature to help people locate specific productsthey're interested in.

The localized nature of the optical narrowcasting may also be used tomotivate people to visit a particular geographic location, e.g., byencouraging people to transmit contact information to an opticalreceiver assembly (found in a store, for example) using an opticaltransmitter assembly controlled by a social media application on a userdevice. Optical narrowcasting may provide superior localization relativeto what could be achieved using WiFi or built-in location sensors. Anetwork of optical receiver assemblies may be created at certain localesallowing users to share information about the surrounding area, sharerelevant text, photos, videos, etc.

Security, privacy, and/or anonymity can be achieved through the use ofan optical narrowcasting system. Unlike, e.g., WiFi networks, thatrequire users to log into the network in order to obtain service, a usermay receive an optical beam without disclosing any sensitive information(or any information for that matter). Moreover, the optical beamtransmitted by an optical transmitter assembly can be made quite narrow,if desired, to limit the receipt of the optical beam to only thoseoptical receiver assemblies in line with the narrow width of the opticalbeam.

An appealing characteristic of optical narrowcasting is that thetransmittal of information is unobtrusive, indeed invisible. That is,only people that are interested in obtaining optically transmittedinformation can see (e.g., via an augmented reality experience) theinformation.

FIG. 8 is a depiction of example optical transmitter assembly (OTA) 800.The OTA 800 is capable of providing one or more long-range,high-bandwidth optical narrowcast signals. While typical smartphonecommunications are solely based on the transmission of radio waves(e.g., cellular networks, WIFI, GPS, and Bluetooth®), the OTA 800transmits one or more optical beacons and/or optical signals, i.e., oneor more modulated beams of optical radiation. In various embodiments,the OTA 800 may be part of a one-way or two-way communications system.It will be appreciated that, in some embodiments described herein,nonimaging optical design techniques are utilized to designsmall-form-factor beamforming optics for the OTA 800, such that it mayexhibit unexpected range and information bandwidth performance for adevice of its size.

In various embodiments, the OTA 800 is a device including electronics,software (and/or firmware), and one or more optical transmitters (OTs)(described herein) that transmit optical beacons and/or optical signalsas part of an optical narrowcasting system (ONS). The OTA 800 may becapable of long communication range, providing sufficient information atlong distances for streaming video with low, correctable error rates. Inone example, the modulated optical beams provided by the OTA 800 may bereceived by an ORA described herein. The ORA may include or be attachedto a digital computing device such as a smartphone, media tablet,laptop, camera, game device, wearable device (e.g., smartwatch), or thelike.

The OTA 800 may generate and transmit optical beacons and/or opticalsignals in the visible, near-infrared (IR), or other optical bandsproduced using incoherent optical sources (e.g., LEDs), coherent opticalsources (e.g., lasers), or the like. An optical beam is a beam ofelectromagnetic waves in the spectral region from the extremeultraviolet (UV) to the far IR, which may include wavelengths in therange of 10 to 10⁶ nm. It will be appreciated that the OTA 800 maygenerate and transmit optical beams at any wavelength or range ofwavelengths in the aforementioned spectral region. For example, the OTA800 may generate and transmit optical signals in the visible ornear-infrared (IR) bands.

The OTA 800 may generate optical beam(s) that transmit information toanother location through air, water, transparent solids (e.g., glasswindows), and/or space (i.e., a vacuum). The propagation path of a beamtransmitted by an optical transmitter may be direct (i.e., line ofsight) or indirect. In an example of an indirect path, the beam mayreflect and/or scatter off of one or more liquid and/or solid objectsbefore being received by an ORA.

In various embodiments, a single OTA 800 may produce optical beamshaving different intensity distributions as a function of horizontal andvertical angular coordinates. In some embodiments, two or more differentOTAs 800 may each produce two or more different optical beams havingdifferent intensity distributions.

The OTA 800's electronics and associated software (and/or firmware)perform various useful functions, such as, but not limited to: providingan interface between the OTA 800 and one or more of its user's or users'computing devices, supplying timing pulses and electrical power to itsOT(s), controlling the operation of its OT(s) (e.g., turning them on andoff, setting their data-transmission rate, or the like), transferringdigital data to one or more of the OTs for them to output as one or moredigitally modulated optical beams, and controlling one or more tiltactuators to alter the pointing direction(s) of the output opticalbeam(s).

The OTA 800 may be compact as depicted in FIG. 8. For example, the OTA800 may be 2 inches in length or be shorter than 2 inches. Variousexample components of the OTA 800 are described herein. It will beappreciated that the OTA 800 may be any length including longer than 2inches or shorter than 2 inches. In some embodiments, length of the OTA800 may produce different performance characteristics (e.g.,communication range, bit rate, beam width, or the like).

The OTA 800 may be mobile or stationary. For example, a dedicated OTA800 may be stationary and installed on various structures (e.g.,buildings and billboards) or it may be mobile, due to it being installedon vehicles (e.g., buses, automobiles, and aircraft). In addition, itmay be mobile due to it being a portable or wearable device, or due toit being a component of or attachment to a portable or wearable device.

Although FIG. 8 depicts an OTA 800 for optical communication, it will beappreciated that a smartphone or other digital device may perform one ormore functions of the OTA 800. For example, an LED flash unit built intoa smartphone may be utilized as an OT (e.g., without a collimator) and asmartphone application may produce the necessary digital modulation ofthe flash unit's optical output. In some embodiments, a smartphone maybe coupled to a smartphone case with one or more elements of the OTA 800(e.g., integrated IR emitter and beamforming optics, firmware, and/orsoftware interface).

Utilizing optical communications has many advantages for users ofsmartphones and/or other digital computing devices. For example, opticalcommunications may provide long-range and high-bandwidth capabilitieseven in the absence of cellular coverage or WiFi. Further, opticaltransmissions are not regulated by the FCC. Optical communications alsohave low power requirements and high energy efficiency. Users may alsoprefer to utilize optical communication because they are not necessarilyrequired to provide location information through the personal devices(e.g., smartphone) or provide location information by utilizing cellulartowers that triangulate position.

Optical communications may provide an additional degree of securityrelative to radio-wave-based communications. For example, due to theease with which optical beams having narrow beam widths may be produced,in some embodiments transmitted optical signals are only received byoptical receivers located within a narrow angular zone. It will beappreciated that receiving or transmitting information optically may notrequire that users utilize any of the limited cellular data provided bytheir cell-phone service plan.

FIG. 9 depicts an example functional block diagram of an OTA 800. TheOTA 800 includes data-input electronics 904, a data preprocessor 906,data storage 910, control-input electronics 912, and an opticaltransmitter OT 902. In other embodiments a single OTA 800 may includeany number of OTs 902. The OT 902 may include a data-format converter916, a light-source driver 918, a power supply 920, a light source 922,beamforming optics 924, OT-control electronics 926, and a tilt actuator928 which controls the horizontal and vertical pointing direction of theoptical beam output by the OT 902.

A user may utilize a computer, smartphone, or other digital computingdevice to provide data files of streaming video or other data to OTA 800by means of the data-input electronics 904. The data-input electronics904 may accept data via a hardwired data connection (e.g., a USB port),a wireless data connection (e.g.,) Bluetooth®, or both. As an example, auser may upload one or more data files via the data-input electronics904 from local storage (e.g., hard drive or SSD) network storage, ormemory within his computing device. In various embodiments, thedata-input electronics 904 may include an interface, port, antenna, orthe like to receive information from another digital device. Thedata-input electronics 904 may receive information over a hardwired dataconnection (e.g., USB, Ethernet cable, SATA cable, or the like) and/orwirelessly (e.g., Bluetooth®, WiFi, or the like).

The user may also utilize a computing device to input commands via thecontrol-input electronics 912 to control any number of operations of thedata-format converter 916, the light-source driver 918 (e.g., commandsspecifying the bit rate of the optically transmitted data, opticaloutput intensity, and optical pulse duty cycle), and/or the tiltactuator 928 (e.g., commands specifying horizontal and vertical pointingdirection of the optical beam).

The control-input electronics 912 may also allow the user to inputcommands controlling the operation of the data preprocessor 906, as wellas the data storage 910 (e.g., commands to delete files from storage orto transfer one or more specified stored files to the OT 902, which maytransmit the file(s)). The control-input electronics 912 may accept suchcontrol-command inputs from one or more computing devices via ahardwired data connection (e.g., a USB connection), a wireless dataconnection (e.g., Bluetooth®), or both. In various embodiments thedata-input electronics 904 and control-input electronics 912 may shareone or more data connections. In various embodiments, control commandsmay be received by the control-input electronics 912 over the data-inputelectronics 904. In various embodiments, the control-input electronics912 may retrieve or receive control commands from software executing onthe OTA 800.

The OTA 800 may optionally preprocess the input data by means of thedata preprocessor 906. The preprocessor 906 may be any physical orvirtual processor. In some embodiments, the data may be organized,filtered, compressed, combined with other data, and the like to prepareit for transmission in the form of a modulated optical beam output bythe OT 902. One or more users may utilize computing devices to specifyby means of control commands input via the control-input electronics 912desired preprocessing to be performed by the data preprocessor 906 ondifferent types of data files.

In various embodiments, the OTA 800 may accept 720p video files as inputdata to be optically transmitted at bit rates in the range of 300-500kb/s. It will be appreciated that any video format may be accepted asinput data and then optically transmitted, including standard orhigh-definition formats. It will also be appreciated that the OTA 800may optically transmit any file or combination of files including video,images, audio, text files or the like.

The data storage 910 in the OTA 800 may store data that has been inputvia the data-input electronics 904 and preprocessed by the datapreprocessor 906. The data storage may be any storage including harddrive, SSD, network storage, or the like. One or more users may utilizecomputing devices to control the operation of the data storage 910 bymeans of control commands input via the control-input electronics 912.For example, commands may be issued to delete data files from the datastorage 910. Additionally, commands may be issued to transfer files thathave been stored in data storage 910 to the OT 902, so that theinformation in the files can be optically transmitted.

In various embodiments, the OTA 800 may provide the preprocessed inputdata stored in data storage 910 to the data-format converter 916.Commands to provide such input data may be issued to the data storage910 by the control-input electronics 912, based on commands receivedfrom one or more computing devices. The purpose of the data-formatconverter 916 may be to convert data into an appropriate format foroptical transmission. The conversion process may include datasegmentation, in which the data to be transmitted are broken up intosegments, such as forward error correction (FEC) segments. Such FECsegments may be of any size and may assist in recovery (e.g., instantrecovery) using a protocol (e.g., TCP). In one example, if a segment isnot properly received, the next segment provides recovery information.It will be appreciated that different data segmentation methods may beused. In some embodiments, the data may not be segmented at all, or thesegmentation procedure may be an optional step, dependent on controlinputs received from the user(s).

In other embodiments, the data-format converter 916 may apportion thedata for error correction (e.g., based on Vandermonde matrices to allowfor recovery). Such data apportionment may also be an optional step,dependent on control inputs received from the user(s). The data-formatconverter 916 may also perform parallel-to-serial conversion of the datain preparation for transmitting it optically.

In some embodiments, the data-format converter 916 may convert the datato an appropriate format for optical transmission. In one example, thedata-format converter 916 may convert the data into a return-to-zeroon-off-keying (RZ-OOK) format, which provides a clock signal to theoptical receiver. The data-format converter 916 may incorporate transmitand receive first-in-first-outs (FIFOs) into the data in order toprevent overflow errors and improve data optimization. The specific setof procedures performed by the data-format converter 916 on data from agiven data file may depend on what specific data-format-convertercommands have been input via the control-input electronics 912 andtransferred to the data-format converter 916 via the OT-controlelectronics 926. These data-format-converter commands may alter thenature of specific procedures performed by the data-format converter916. For example, a particular command may cause the number of bits ineach segment produced by the data-segmentation procedure to be changedfrom a previous value, or another command may eliminate thedata-segmentation procedure from the data-format-conversion processingfor one or more specific data files or files of a certain type or types.

The light-source driver 918 accepts data to be optically transmittedfrom the data-format converter 916 and outputs the appropriate modulatedelectrical signals to drive the light source 922, using power suppliedby power supply 920. The operation of the light-source driver 918 iscontrolled by user commands input via the control-input electronics 912and transferred to the light-source driver 918 via the OT-controlelectronics 926. For example, characteristics of the modulated outputoptical beam such as the bit-rate, optical output power level, andoptical pulse duty cycle may be controlled in this manner.

In some embodiments, the OT 902 may be equipped with a tilt actuator928. The tilt actuator 928 may include any number of actuators that mayalter the horizontal and vertical pointing direction of the outputoptical beam. The specific pointing direction used at any given time maybe controlled by user commands input via the control-input electronics912 and transferred to the tilt actuator 928 via the OT-controlelectronics 926. In various embodiments, the tilt actuator 928 mayinclude any number of actuators to move the beamforming optics 924and/or the light source 922.

The OT-control electronics 926 provides a means of transferring usercommands received via the control-input electronics 912 to differentcomponents of the OT 902, including the data-format converter 916, thelight-source driver 918, and/or the tilt actuator 928. In someembodiments the OT-control electronics may control all three of theaforementioned components, while in other embodiments it may controlonly one or two of these components.

In various embodiments, the beamforming optics 924 may include custom orcommercially available reflective and refractive optics.

In various embodiments the light source 922 may consist of one or morecustom or commercially available optical emitters. For example, thelight source 922 may incorporate at least one commercially availablenear-IR emitter.

In a particular implementation, the light source 922 may output opticalradiation with a spectrum having a centroid wavelength of 850 nm, and apeak power of 1.4 W (e.g., during a 1-bit output pulse). It will beappreciated that the light source 922 may produce optical radiationhaving any wavelength spectrum. Similarly, the light source 922 mayproduce optical radiation at any output power level.

The light source 922 may be any light source. For example, the lightsource 922 may be or include any incoherent optical emitters (e.g.,LEDs) and/or coherent optical emitters (e.g., lasers). In someembodiments, the light source 922 may be mounted on a Berquist thermalClad LED substrate for heat dissipation. The light source 922 may be anIR emitter having a die size and/or active emitter area of 1 mm×1 mm. Itwill be appreciated that the light source 922 may have any size. In someembodiments, the light source 922 may comprise one or more OSRAM SFH4235 Platinum Dragon high power IR emitters. While the OSRAM SFH 4235 IRemitter has a maximum transmitted bit rate of 24 MHz it will beappreciated that the light source 922 may have any transmission rate. Inone example, the active emitter area of light source 922 may be a 1 mmsquare and its maximum transmitted bit rate may be 24 MHz.

In various embodiments, the electrical power for the light source 922 toproduce 1 W of optical output power is 3.579 W. It will be appreciatedthat the light source 922 may utilize any amount of electrical power(e.g., more or less electrical power) to produce 1 W of optical outputpower.

The light-source driver 918 may utilize the formatted data provided bythe data-format converter 916 to drive the light source 922. In someembodiments, the light-source driver 918 may include a high-speed MOSFETthat drives the light source 922. The MOSFET may be selected to providehigh current while maintaining the desired data bandwidth.

The light source 922 may generate one or more modulated optical beamsthat are provided to the beamforming optics 924. The beamforming optics924 receives each beam produced by the light source 922 and transformsit into an output beam having a desired intensity distribution as afunction of horizontal and vertical angular coordinates. As discussedherein, the light source 922 may output optical radiation in the near IRwavelength range.

The beamforming optics 924 may be or include, for example,collimator/homogenizer optics discussed herein. In various embodiments,the beamforming optics 924 uses a reflective “wineglass” collimator(further discussed herein) and at least one pair of lenslet arrays(e.g., Köhler lenslet arrays) (also further discussed herein) to producean output beam that is highly uniform within a square angular region.

It will be appreciated that there may be different OTAs 800 fordifferent purposes. For example, an OTA 800 designed to be used outdoorsmay include electronics, emitters, transmitters, and the like capable oflong distance optical transmission while an OTA 800 designed to be usedindoors may include electronics, emitters, and transmitters designed forindoor use and shorter distance optical transmission.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart 1000 for optical narrowcast transmission of datain some embodiments. In step 1002, the OTA 800 receives data to betransmitted optically. The data may include any number of files. Thedata, for example, may include, but is not limited to, video, PowerPointslides, audio, documents, and/or images. The data may include anycombination of different types of media or files (e.g., any combinationof video, slides, audio, documents, images, and the like).

The OTA 800 may receive the data from any computing device orcombination of computing devices. In some embodiments, a remotecomputing device (i.e., a computing device that is remote to the OTA800) may provide any or all of the data to the OTA 800 via a data-inputelectronics 904 using a wired or wireless network. For example, a servermay provide any number of files to any number of OTAs 800 over one ormore networks. The server may provide the same files or different filesto a number of OTAs 800.

In various embodiments, the server may coordinate and/or manage deliveryof digital content to any number of OTAs 800 for an entity or user. Forexample, a retail store may have any number of different outlets, one ormore of which includes any number of OTAs 800. The server may senddifferent or the same data to any number of OTAs 800 located at anynumber of the different outlets. The server may be controlled orconfigured to provide updates or changes to content among the differentOTAs 800. It will be appreciated that a centralized server may provideconsistent and/or organized messaging through any number of OTAs 800 atone or more locations thereby allowing the entity or user to provideconsistent messaging and/or branding.

Similarly, it will be appreciated that a centralized server may provideconsistent and/or organized messaging through any number of OTAs 800 atany number of locations on behalf of any number of entities. Forexample, the same centralized server may receive files (e.g., video,images, audio, text, or the like) from two different retailers. Thecentralized server may provide different files to one or more differentOTAs 800 based on instructions or configurations of the first retailer.Similarly, the centralized server may provide other files to one or moreother OTAs 800 based on instructions or configurations of the secondretailer. In this way, the centralized server may be used by any numberof entities to coordinate and provide optical narrowcasting content overany number of OTAs 800 to stores, restaurants, landmarks, facilities,private residences, government offices, and/or the like.

In step 1004, the OTA 800 preprocesses the received data. For example,the data preprocessor 906 may organize, filter, compress, combine withother data, and/or the like to prepare the data for transmission in theform of a modulated optical beam output by the OT 902. It will beappreciated that the data may include a combination of video, text,and/or images. It will also be appreciated that different types of datamay be preprocessed in different ways. Video data, for example, may betransformed into a compressed video file using a video codec, whileother types of data may be compressed in a different manner, or may notbe compressed at all. In step 1006, the data storage 910 may store thepreprocessed data in memory (e.g., hard disk, SSD, network memory, orRAM).

In step 1008, the data-format converter 916 (within the OT 902) convertsthe stored data into an appropriate format for optical transmission. Theconversion process may include data segmentation, parallel-to-serialconversion, and/or conversion into a signal format suitable for opticaltransmission, such as an RZ-OOK format, which provides a clock signal tothe optical receiver. As part of step 1008, the data-format converter916 may also incorporate transmit and receive FIFOs into the data toprevent overflow errors and improve data optimization. The data may beapportioned for error correction (e.g., based on Vandermonde matrices toallow for recovery). It will be appreciated that one or more of theaforementioned data-format conversion processes may be optional or maynot be used at all. For example, in some embodiments step 1008 may notinclude a data-segmentation process. It will also be appreciated that inone or more embodiments, one or more data-format conversion proceduresother than the aforementioned procedures may be performed as part of thecomplete data-format-conversion process.

In step 1010, the OTA 800 may convert the data formatted in step 1008into a modulated optical beam, by means of the light-source driver 918and the light source 922. The light-source driver 918 may accept asinput the data output from the data-format converter 916. Thelight-source driver 918 may subsequently output appropriate modulatedelectrical signals to drive the light source 922, using electrical powersupplied by the power supply 920. These modulated electrical signals maycause the light source 922 to output the data in the form of a modulatedoptical beam.

In step 1012, the modulated optical beam produced in step 1010 may betransformed into a modulated optical beam having a required intensitydistribution. This step may be accomplished by passing the modulatedoptical beam produced by the light source 922 through the beamformingoptics 924, which transforms the beam into a beam having a requiredintensity distribution as a function of horizontal and vertical angularcoordinates. In some embodiments the modulated optical beam produced bythe light source 922 may already have the desired or required intensitydistribution, in which case the beamforming optics 924 may not beincluded as part of the OTA 800. In some embodiments, the beamformingoptics 924 may include a reflective “wineglass” collimator (furtherdiscussed herein) and at least one pair of lenslet arrays (e.g., Köhlerlenslet arrays) (also further discussed herein) to produce an outputbeam that is highly uniform within a square angular region.

The modulated data may have a modulation duty cycle of η_(mod), thevalue of which is less than unity. In one example of the modulation dutycycle, the modulation duty cycle may be defined as

$\eta_{mod} = \frac{\tau}{\tau_{int}}$where τ is the duration of an optical binary 1-bit (i.e., a singletransmitted optical pulse representing a binary 1-bit) and τ_(int) isthe time interval between the beginning of a bit and the beginning ofthe next bit in a sequence of transmitted bits. The quantity τ_(int) isalso the effective integration time of the optical receiver assembly(ORA) used to receive signals from the OTA 800. Since the bit rate B, inunits of Hz, is the inverse of τ_(int), the above formula can also bewritten asμ_(mod=τB)

In various embodiments, bit-error probability P_(error) is defined asthe probability that noise in the system will cause any given opticallytransmitted bit to be incorrectly interpreted by an optical receiver(i.e., will cause a 1-bit to be interpreted as a 0-bit or vice versa).In some embodiments, the system may utilize a single optical channelwith a center wavelength of λ_(c) and wavelength range Δλ. For systemswith multiple optical channels using different optical wavebands, theperformance analysis must be done separately for each channel.

FIG. 11 is a depiction of an example OTA 800. The OTA 800 may include alight source 922 with an attached heat sink 1114 mounted together withbeamforming optics 924. The light source 922 in this case is an OSRAMSFH 4235 IR emitter. The heat sink 1114 is a thermally conductivestructure that is in thermal contact with the light source 922 andincorporates one or more thermally conductive fin-shaped structures toradiate heat from the light source 922, thereby keeping it sufficientlycool to maintain its required average optical output power and toprevent thermal damage.

The beamforming optics comprise a reflective wineglass collimator 1100and two identical lenslet arrays 1108 and 1110. The wineglass collimator1100, which may comprise three separate reflective components 1102,1104, and 1106, may be coupled with and/or receive an optical beam fromthe light source 922. An interior portion of an inner surface of each ofthe separate reflective components 1102, 1104, and 1106 may be at leastpartially reflective. The outer surface of the separate reflectivecomponents 1102, 1104, and 1106 may not be reflective.

The separate reflective components 1102, 1104, and 1106 may be coupledtogether to form the wineglass collimator 1100. As discussed herein, thewineglass collimator may be or include an ellipsoidal portion and aparaboloidal portion. Components 1102 and 1104 may be coupled to formthe ellipsoidal portion. In some embodiments, the components 1102 and1104 are coupled at the broadest diameter of the ellipsoidal portion(e.g., in the middle of the broad middle body further described herein).Component 1106 may be coupled to a side of the component 1104 that isopposite that of the component 1102. Component 1106 may include theparaboloidal portion of the wineglass collimator. In some embodiments,the components 1102, 1104, and 1106 position and align the ellipsoidalportion and paraboloidal portion of the wineglass collimator such thatthe optical axis of the wineglass collimator is aligned with the lightsource.

The reflective optical surface of the wineglass collimator 1100 may berotationally symmetric about an optical axis substantially centered onthe light-emitting element of the light source 922. In some embodiments,the reflective surface of the wineglass collimator 1100 may include thereflective surfaces of the two reflective components 1102 and 1104 whichmay have a shape that is close to being ellipsoidal, but yet which maydeviate substantially from being ellipsoidal in order to reduce orminimize the horizontal and vertical beamwidth of the collimated beamproduced by the wineglass collimator 1100. A second portion of thereflective surface of the wineglass collimator 1100 including thereflective surface of reflective component 1106 may have a shape that isclose to being paraboloidal, but yet which may deviate substantiallyfrom being paraboloidal in order to reduce or minimize the horizontaland vertical beamwidth of the collimated beam produced by the wineglasscollimator 1100.

The output optical beam produced by the wineglass collimator 1100without the lenslet arrays 1108 and 1110 in place may have an intensitydistribution as a function of horizontal and vertical angularcoordinates that is somewhat uniform within a square angular region. Thepair of lenslet arrays 1108 and 1110 may improve or substantiallyimprove the uniformity of the intensity distribution of the optical beamoutput by the beamforming optics 924, thereby providing a communicationsrange for receivers that may be substantially the same for any two ormore identical ORAs lying within that square angular region. In someembodiments the pair of lenslet arrays 1108 and 1110 may convert theoutput beam produced by the wineglass collimator into a beam having anintensity distribution that is highly uniform within a rectangular orhexagonal angular region, rather than a square angular region.

The lenslet arrays 1108 and 1110 may, for example, comprise a pair ofKöhler lenslet arrays. The lenslet arrays are further discussed herein.The lenslet arrays 1108 and 1110 may be spaced apart and/or positionedby structure unit 1112, where the spacing distance between the twolenslet arrays is substantially equal to the focal length of eachlenslet in each array. The lenslet arrays 1108 and 1110 may bepositioned in front of the exit pupil of the wineglass collimator 1100,where this exit pupil is the larger aperture of the reflective component1106 (i.e., the rightmost aperture of 1106 in the cross-sectional viewof FIG. 11).

In various embodiments, the beamforming optics 924, which may includethe wineglass collimator 1100 and the pair of lenslet arrays 1108 and1110, are capable of converting the optical output of the light source922 into an output optical beam that has a highly uniform intensitydistribution within an 8°-square angular region. It will be appreciatedthat the beamforming optics 924, in various embodiments, may convert theoutput of the light source into an output optical beam having anintensity distribution that is highly uniform within any square,rectangular, or hexagonal angular region.

Because of its uniform square output optical beam, multiple copies ofthis design of beamforming optics 924, each having its own light source922, may be used together within a single OTA 800 that produces anoutput optical beam wider than 8° in a horizontal direction and/or avertical direction. As discussed herein, the optical source (e.g., lightsource 922 of FIG. 9) may be a 1 W near IR solid-state emitter with apeak output wavelength of 860 nm. The beamforming optics 924 may have aclear-aperture diameter of 18.5 mm and a total length of 30.5 mm.

In various embodiments, when used with the appropriate ORA, the OTA 800may allow for information transfer over distances in excess of 400 mduring the day and 1200 m at night, with a bit rate of 1 MHz and abit-error probability of 10⁻⁹. This data rate permits transmission oflivestreamed HD video.

FIGS. 12a and 12b depict two different three-dimensional perspectiveviews of the beamforming optics 924 with traced rays from the lightsource 922. It should be noted that the light source 922 itself is notdepicted in these two figures. It should also be noted that only thereflective optical surface of the wineglass collimator is depicted inFIGS. 12a and 12b ; the mechanical structures surrounding this opticalsurface are not depicted in these two figures. FIG. 12a depicts thewineglass collimator 1100 which may include an ellipsoidal portion 1200and a paraboloidal portion 1202, as well as the lenslet arrays 1108 and1110. In one example, the lenslet arrays 1108 and 1110 are two identicalKöhler lenslet arrays that improve the uniformity of the outputintensity distribution.

The ellipsoidal portion 1200 may be rotationally symmetric. Theellipsoidal portion 1200 may include a narrow entrance pupil, a broadermiddle body, and a narrow circular exit. The narrow entrance pupil maybe circular with a diameter that is smaller than the greatest diameterof the middle body. The narrow entrance pupil may be positioned toreceive light from the light source. The diameter of the broad middlebody may flare from the narrow entrance pupil to a diameter that isgreater than that of the narrow entrance pupil and then diminish to thenarrow circular exit.

The paraboloidal portion 1202 may also be rotationally symmetric. Theparaboloidal portion 1202 may include a narrow circular entrance and abroad exit pupil. The diameter of the paraboloidal portion 1202 flarefrom the narrow circular entrance to the diameter of the broad exitpupil. The diameter of the exit pupil of the paraboloidal portion 1202may be the greatest diameter of the reflective surface of the wineglasscollimator. The narrow circular entrance may be or be coupled to thenarrow circular exit of the ellipsoidal portion 1200. As such, thediameter of the narrow circular entrance of the paraboloidal portion1202 may be the same as the diameter of the narrow circular exit of theellipsoidal portion 1200.

In a second view, FIG. 12b depicts a different perspective view of thebeamforming optics 924 with rays traced from the light source 922. Invarious embodiments, the length of the wineglass collimator 1100 is lessthan 1 inch.

FIG. 13 depicts a side view of the example beamforming optic with tracedrays from a light source. The beamforming optic may include a collimatorwith a paraboloidal portion 1202 that is 12.5 mm in length. It will beappreciated that portion 1202 may be any length.

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view of an example axisymmetric reflectivecollimator 1400 (e.g., the wineglass collimator 1100). The light source1402 may be any source of optical radiation (e.g., light source 922 ofFIG. 9) and may be positioned to provide optical beam(s) to thecollimator 1400. In some embodiments, the light source 1402 or a lightemitting surface of the optical emitter 1402 is positioned at theentrance pupil of the collimator 1400 (e.g., the wineglass collimator1100).

In some embodiments, the wineglass collimator 1100 re-images theemitting surface of the light source 922 to infinity to produce acollimated output beam. The collimated beam may propagate through thepair of lenslet arrays 1108 and 1110 and exit as an optical beam havinga highly uniform intensity distribution within an 8°-square angularregion. Lenslet arrays 1108 and 1110 may homogenize the beam such thatit has a flat (i.e., uniform) intensity distribution within this squareangular region, providing uniform or near-uniform signal strength fortwo or more identical ORAs at the same distance from the OTA 800 andlocated within the aforementioned square angular region. It will beappreciated that, in various embodiments, the angular region over whichthe output optical beam is highly uniform may be rectangular orhexagonal rather than square.

In FIG. 14, the collimator 1400 has a length of slightly less than 22 mmand an exit-pupil diameter of 18.5 mm. It will be appreciated that thecollimator 1400 may be longer than or shorter than 22 mm and may have anexit-pupil diameter that is greater than or less than 18.5 mm (e.g., 20mm, 18 mm, or the like). In one example, the collimator 1400 may have anexit-pupil diameter of 18.511 mm and a total length of 21.50 mm. Thecentral obscuration of the collimator 1400 may have a diameter of 6.536mm.

While measurements are depicted in millimeters, it will be appreciatedthat the collimator 1400 may be any length, including fractions ofmillimeters.

FIG. 15 depicts a three-dimensional view of an example of a wineglasscollimator 1100 for use in beamforming optics 924. The collimator mayinclude the three reflective optical components 1102, 1104, and 1106.FIG. 15 depicts how the three reflective components 1102, 1104, and 1106may fit together to form the wineglass collimator in some embodiments.The lenslet arrays 1108 and 1110 may be in front of the exit pupil ofreflective component 1106.

The reflective components 1102, 1104, and 1106 may be fabricated in anynumber of ways. For example, they may be fabricated in a three-partfabrication process whereby each is turned from aluminum to near netshape such that the optical surface is within +0.010″ of its shape. Thecomponents may then be diamond turned to produce the required opticalsurface shape. The optical surface of each of component may then becoated with a reflective coating that is highly reflective in theoptical waveband of the light source 922.

FIG. 16 depicts an example lenslet array 1600. The lenslet array 1600,as discussed herein, may be one of a pair of Köhler lenslet arrays.There may be two lenslet arrays placed in the path of the beam output ofthe collimator 1100 (e.g., in front of the exit pupil of the wineglasscollimator 1100). As depicted in FIG. 16, the lenslet array 1600 mayinclude a square array of identical lenslets having square apertures,where the array is truncated such that the clear aperture of the lensletarray 1600 is circular. The lenslet array 1600 may have a first sideopposite a second side, where the first side is closer to the wineglasscollimator 1100 than the second side. The lenslets on the first side ofthe lenslet array 1600 may have identical convex spherical shapeprofiles. The convex spherical lenslet surfaces on the first side mayhave any physically realizable convex curvature. In one example, eachlenslet on the first side of the lenslet array 1600 has a 3.695 mmradius of curvature. The first side of the lenslet array 1600 may befacing toward the exit pupil of the collimator 1100. The second side(opposite the first side) of the lenslet array 1600 may be planar.

In one example, each lenslet array may be made of Schott B270 glass.Each array may be 1.2 mm thick with a 20×20 square array of lenslets,which has been truncated to a clear aperture diameter of 20 mm. Eachlenslet in the array has a 1-mm-square aperture. The refractive index ofB270 glass is 1.51555 for a wavelength of 850 nm. The focal length ofeach lenslet may be 7.17 mm. The separation between the planar surfacesof the two lenslet arrays may be 7.5 mm. In one example, the totallength of the beamforming optics 924, including the wineglass collimator1100 and the Köhler lenslet arrays, is 30.50 mm.

It will be appreciated that each lenslet array may be made of anytransparent refractive optical material, be of any thickness, and haveany refractive index for any wavelength. The focal length may be greaterthan or less than 7.17 mm and the separation between lenslet arrays maybe any distance. The length of the beamforming optics 924 may have anyvalue.

FIG. 17 depicts an example pair of lenslet arrays 1700. In someembodiments, the pair of lenslet arrays 1700 may be in place of or inaddition to the pair of Köhler lenslet arrays. The lenslet arrays 1700may, in various embodiments, be optically printed (e.g., in acrylic). Inone example, the lenslet arrays 1700 may be printed using additiveacrylic ink droplets prior to UV curing.

Performance of an example OTA 800 is discussed as follows. In thisexample, the OTA 800 includes an IR emitter with a centroid wavelengthof 850 nm, a full-width-at-5%-of-peak optical bandwidth of 75 nm, and apeak optical output power of 1.4 W (e.g., during 1-bit pulse). Theactive emitter region may be a square 1 mm of a side and the maximumtransmitted bit rate may be 24 MHz. The beamforming optic may includethe wineglass collimator 1100 and lenslet arrays 1108 and 1110, whichare Köhler lenslet arrays as described herein.

In computing the performance for this example, the optical efficiency ofthe beamforming optic is assumed to be η_(trans)=0.80. The beamformingoptic for use in the example OTA 800 is designed to efficiently transferflux from a 1-mm-square source into an 8°-square output beam, with ahigh degree of intensity uniformity. The efficiency in transferring fluxfrom an idealized light source 922 defined as a 1-mm-square uniformLambertian emitter into the 8°-square output beam may be about 82.2%.However, in some embodiments, the light emitting element of the lightsource 922 may be mounted at the bottom of a shallow hole in the base ofthe light source 922 (e.g., the IR emitting die mounted at the bottom ofa shallow hole in the base of the OSRAM SFH 4235 IR emitter) such that aportion of light is scattered by the materials in the walls of the holebefore it can be collected by the beamforming optic. As a result, theflux-transfer efficiency for such a non-idealized light source 922 maybe 49.8%. This significantly increases the étendue of the source,preventing much of the light from being transferred into the desired8°-square angular region.

FIGS. 18a,b -20 a,b depict graphs indicating performance of the exampleOTA system (e.g., OTA 800) as described herein. FIG. 18a is a surfaceplot of the output intensity distribution as a function of a horizontalangle and a vertical angle produced by a single beamforming opticconsisting of the aforementioned wineglass collimator 1100 and lensletarrays 1108 and 1110 in some embodiments. The light source 922 used ingenerating this intensity distribution was the OSRAM SFH 4235 IRemitter, operated with an optical output power of 1.4 W. The beamformingoptic and the light source were oriented such that they produced ahighly uniform intensity output in an 8°-square angular region, with thetop and bottom edges of each square region oriented parallel to thehorizontal angular coordinate axis. The intensity distribution wasgenerated by means of a ray-tracing simulation using loss-free opticalmaterials and optical surfaces. Here the term “loss-free” means that inthe ray-tracing simulation used to generate the intensity distributionthe reflective surface of the wineglass collimator 1100 had 100%reflectance, the optical surface on each side of each of the two lensletarrays 1108 and 1110 had 100% transmittance, and bulk absorption lossesof optical power for rays propagating through the two lenslet arrays1108 and 1110 were zero. Actual optical surfaces and optical materialswill not be loss-free. To estimate the intensity output withnon-loss-free optical materials and surfaces, the intensity distributionof FIG. 18a may be appropriately scaled by multiplying the intensityvalues by the product of all loss factors associated with the opticalmaterials (i.e., bulk absorption losses) and surfaces. The light-sourcemodel used in the ray-tracing simulation was ray data generated fromgoniometric measurements of the OSRAM SFH 4235 IR emitter. Thegoniometric dataset used for this was provided by OSRAM.

FIG. 18b is a surface plot of a portion of the combined output intensitydistribution as a function of angle produced by six identicalbeamforming optics of the same type used to generate the results of FIG.18a in some embodiments. The OSRAM SFH 4235 IR emitter operated with anoptical output power of 1.4 W was used as the light source 922 in eachof the six beamforming optics. Each beamforming optic and its associatedlight source were oriented such that they produced a highly uniformintensity output in an 8°-square angular region, with top and bottomedges of each square region oriented parallel to the horizontal angularcoordinate axis. All six beamforming optics were pointed in the samevertical direction, while adjacent beamforming optics were pointed inhorizontal directions differing by 8°, such that the combined output ofthe six beamforming optics was an intensity distribution that was highlyuniform in a rectangular angular region 48°-wide in the horizontaldirection and 8°-wide in the vertical direction. The same type ofray-tracing simulation and light-source model used to generate theresults of FIG. 18a were used to generate the results of FIG. 18b , withall optical surfaces and optical materials being loss-free.

FIG. 19a is a graph of vertical slices taken through the center andvertical edges (i.e., vertical slices taken through the horizontalangular coordinates −4°, 0°, and +4° relative to the center of the8°-square uniform region) of the same intensity distribution produced bya single beamforming optic in some embodiments that is depicted as asurface plot in FIG. 18 a.

As can be seen from FIG. 19a , the intensity is approximately 36 W/srwithin the aforementioned 8°-square angular region of high uniformity.At the edges of this region (i.e., the vertical edges at ±4° from thecenter of the region), the intensity is approximately 25 W/sr.

FIG. 19b is a graph of vertical slices taken through the center of thebeam and at horizontal coordinates of ±4° relative to the center of thesame intensity distribution produced by the six beamforming optics insome embodiments that is depicted as a surface plot in FIG. 18 b.

As can be seen from FIG. 19b , the intensity is approximately 44 W/sralong the vertical beamwidth near the center of the aforementioned 48°by 8° rectangular angular region of high uniformity. Along verticalslices taken through horizontal coordinates ±4° from the center, theintensity within this rectangular angular region is approximately 42W/sr.

FIG. 20a is a graph of horizontal slices taken through the center andnear the vertical edges (i.e., horizontal slices taken through thevertical angular coordinates −3.95°, 0°, and +3.95° relative to thecenter of the 8°-square uniform region) of the same intensitydistribution produced by a single beamforming optic in some embodimentsthat is depicted as a surface plot in FIG. 18 a.

As can be seen from FIG. 20a , the intensity is approximately 36 W/srwithin the aforementioned 8°-square angular region of high uniformity.Near the edges of this region (i.e., at vertical coordinates ±3.95°relative to the center of the region), the intensity is approximately 35W/sr. It will be appreciated that the horizontal and vertical angularwidths of the output optical beam may have any values and that theintensity level may have any value within the horizontal and verticalextent of the beam.

FIG. 20b is a graph of horizontal slices taken through the center of thebeam and at vertical coordinates of ±3.95° relative to the center of thesame intensity distribution produced by the six beamforming optics insome embodiments that is depicted as a surface plot in FIG. 18 b.

As can be seen from FIG. 20b , the intensity is approximately 44 W/sralong the horizontal centerline of the beam between −9.5° and +9.5°horizontally relative to the center of the aforementioned 48° by 8°rectangular angular region of high uniformity. Along horizontal slicestaken through horizontal coordinates ±3.95° from the center, theintensity within this rectangular angular region between −9.5° and +9.5°horizontally is approximately 42 W/sr.

FIG. 21a depicts a simplified schematic diagram of an example OTAutilizing multiple light sources 2106 a-c and beamforming optics 2108a-c. Multiple copies of one or more designs of beamforming optics 2108a-c, each utilizing its own light source 2106 a-c, may be used togetherwithin a single OTA to produce an output beam wider than that producedby any one of the beamforming optics by itself. In some embodiments,multiple beamforming optics, each utilizing its own optical source, maybe used to produce a combined output optical beam having increasedhorizontal and/or vertical angular beam widths, and/or increasedintensity within certain solid-angular regions.

In various embodiments, software 2102 (e.g., from a user's computingdevice) may provide files to transfer to control electronics 2104 (e.g.,electronics within the OTA 800 of FIGS. 8 and 9). The controlelectronics may convert the information in these files into appropriateelectrical signals for driving the light sources 2106 a-c.

Each light source may generate a modulated optical beam, in which themodulations represent the information contained in the aforementionedfiles. The modulated optical beam from each of the light sources 2106a-c is converted into a modulated output optical beam having a requiredintensity distribution by each one of the multiple beamforming optics2108 a-c (e.g., a wineglass collimator 1100 and a pair of lenslet arrays1108 and 1110). Although FIG. 21a depicts control of three light sources2106 a-c and three beamforming optics 2108 a-c, it will be appreciatedthat there may be any number of light sources and any number ofbeamforming optics.

The light sources 2106 a-c may be driven by identical synchronizedelectrical drive signals, so that their modulated optical outputs as afunction of time are identical. Although depicted as refractive in FIG.21, the optics could utilize refraction, reflection, and/or diffraction.The beams output by the beamforming optics 2108 a-c may combine toproduce a combined output beam having a desired intensity distributionover a desired two-dimensional angular zone, referred to as the angularoutput region.

FIG. 21b depicts an example of a combined optical beam output from anOTA utilizing multiple light sources and beamforming optics. Aspreviously discussed, OTAs in accordance with various embodiments maycomprise OTs (each of which may include a light source and beamformingoptics) that are adapted to output an optical beam that is highlyuniform within, e.g., a square angular region. FIG. 21b depicts acombination of multiple optical beams 2110 a-2110 l, each of which maycomprise, for example, an 8°-square angular region. Although not shownin FIG. 21b , it can be appreciated that each of optical beams 2110a-2110 l may be the result of a modulated optical beam that is outputfrom a single OT (light source and beamforming optic). For example,optical beam 2110 a may be the output of light source 2106 a andbeamforming optic 2108 a (of FIG. 21a ), optical beam 2110 b may be theoutput of light source 2106 b and beamforming optic 2108 b, and so on.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 21b , each 8°-square angular regionof each respective optical beam may “abut” each other to generate a“tiled” combined optical beam. It should further be appreciated that oneor more of the OTs generating the combined optical beam can be aimedand/or positioned such that the respective optical beams output fromeach of the multiple OTs can result in the illustrated combined opticalbeam. That is, one or more angular offsets may be used when positioningone or more of the OTs, e.g., horizontal and/or vertical angularcoordinates within the angular output region. Hence, the aforementionedintensity distribution may be a function of such angular coordinates.For example, the light rays comprising each of optical beams 2110 a-2110l may be output generally in direction z, but offset by some angle.Here, the OTs generating optical beams 2110 b, 2110 e, 2110 h, and 2110k may be positioned such that optical beams 2110 b, 2110 e, 2110 h, and2110 k are not angled with respect to the y direction, but are offsetfrom each other by 8° in the x direction to create a 32° wide angularregion. The OTs outputting optical beams 2110 a, 2110 d, 2110 g, and2110 j may be offset in the x direction by 8° (relative to each other)to create a 32° wide angular region, and further offset in the ydirection by 8° relative to optical beams 2110 b, 2110 e, 2110 h, and2110 k. Optical beams 2110 c, 2110 f, 2110 i, and 2110 l may also beoffset in the y direction by 8° relative to optical beams 2110 b, 2110e, 2110 h, and 2110 k. The resulting combined optical beam output fromthe multiple OTs is a 32° by 24° rectangular optical beam.

It should be noted that an OTA which includes multiple OTs can have oneor more of its OTs oriented in any desired manner. For example, an OTAmay have a first OT oriented 90° with respect to a second OT. Such anarrangement may allow an OTA to be used to output optical beams alongtwo different paths while being situated at the convergence of those twodifferent paths (e.g., along two streets, where the OTA is located atthe corner of those two streets). Other orientations are possible andcontemplated herein.

It should be further noted that one or more of the optical beams outputin such a tiled manner may be optical beacons, optical signals, or somecombination thereof. For example, optical signals and optical beaconsmay be temporally interleaved for transmission. For example, opticalsignals and optical beacons may be appropriately identified, e.g., witha first identifier indicating that optical beams or portions of opticalbeams are optical signals/contain signal information and a secondidentifier indicating that optical beams or portions of optical beamsare optical beacons/contain beacon information. For example, the opticalbeams may comprise an optical signal that is modulated by the opticalbeacon, e.g., the modulation representative of an optical signal isitself modulated by the modulation representative of the optical beacon.Data rates used to transmit optical signals may be different from thoseused to transmit optical beacons. For example, an optical signal datarate may be higher than an optical beacon data rate. Different opticalwavelength bands may be used to transmit optical signals and opticalbeacons, the respective optical wavelength bands may be different andnon-overlapping.

In various embodiments, an OTA 800 may transmit two different types ofmodulated optical beams: optical beacons and optical signals. These twotypes of modulated optical beams are discussed herein in terms of theirfunctions. For optical beacons and optical signals to serve theirrespective purposes in an ONS, it is necessary that an effective methodof differentiating between the two types of modulated optical beams beadopted. Otherwise, an ORA could incorrectly interpret an optical beaconor a portion of an optical beacon as being an optical signal or aportion of an optical signal. Similarly, an ORA could incorrectlyinterpret an optical signal or a portion of an optical signal as beingan optical beacon or a portion of an optical beacon.

Possible methods of distinguishing between optical beacons and opticalsignals are now discussed. It will be appreciated that there may be anynumber of effective methods other than those presented herein forproducing optical beacons that are distinguishable from optical signals.Methods discussed herein include: (1) spectral separation, (2) temporalseparation, and (3) double modulation.

A straightforward method of enabling ORAs to distinguish between opticalbeacons and optical signals is to use spectral separation. In oneexample, the optical waveband (which can also be referred to as anoptical wavelength band) used for optical beacons is separate from theoptical waveband used for optical signals. For example, an OTA 800 mayproduce optical beacons by modulating an optical source that outputsnear-IR radiation having a wavelength spectrum in the 800-900 nm range.The OTA 800 may also produce optical signals by modulating an opticalsource that outputs near-IR radiation having a wavelength spectrum inthe 900-1000 nm range. ORAs for receiving optical beams transmitted bysuch an OTA may use OBRs (discussed herein) having significantsensitivity only to wavelengths in the 800-900 nm range and OSRs(discussed herein) having significant sensitivity only to wavelengths inthe 900-1000 nm range. As long as the sensitivities of OBRs and OSRs tooptical radiation having wavelengths in each other's bands aresufficiently low, the probability of an optical beacon being confusedwith an optical signal, and vice versa, may be negligible.

Further, if the bit rate used for optical beacons is significantlydifferent than that used for optical signals, electronic bandpassfiltering can further reduce the likelihood of optical beacons andoptical signals being confused with each other. It will generally not bea problem for optical beacons to use significantly lower bit rates thanoptical signals, because the amount of information contained in anoptical beacon will typically be far lower than that contained in anoptical signal. In some embodiments, separate transmitter optics andoptical sources may be used in an OTA to enable production of opticalbeacons and optical signals with spectral separation. Similarly,separate receiver optics and detectors (or detector arrays) may berequired in ORAs to enable them to receive both optical beacons andoptical signals.

FIG. 22 depicts an example of the optical power output (in arbitraryunits) as a function of time for an optical beacon operating in the800-900 nm band, as well as for an optical signal operating in the900-1000 nm band, where the bit rates for the optical beacon and theoptical signal are 333.33 kHz and 1 MHz, respectively. The coding schemeused for both optical beacons and optical signals is that 1-bits arerepresented by the presence of a pulse and 0-bits are represented by theabsence of a pulse. The upper plot 2200 in FIG. 22 depicts the opticaloutput power as a function of time for an optical beacon during a timeinterval with a total duration of 33

s. The lower plot 2202 in the figure depicts the optical output power asa function of time for an optical signal during the same time interval.

A second method of enabling optical beacons that are distinguishablefrom optical signals is temporal separation. As the name implies, thismethod separates optical beacons from optical signals temporally, ratherthan spectrally. In this example, at any given time an OTA 800 willoutput either an optical beacon or an optical signal, but will notoutput both simultaneously. Such an OTA may alternate between sendingoptical beacons and optical signals. In some embodiments, ORAs candetermine whether they are currently receiving an optical beacon or anoptical signal from such an OTA by looking for the presence of a headerat the beginning of an optical beacon. Such a header may include aunique series of transmitted 1-bits and 0-bits that marks the beginningof an optical beacon. A different header may be used to mark thebeginning of a transmission of optical signals, or, alternatively, eachtransmitted optical beacon may include a standard number of pulses, suchthat ORAs would always know when transmission of an optical beacon hasended and transmission of an optical signal has begun. Because opticalbeacons will typically include very small amounts of informationrelative to optical signals, the amount of time devoted by an OTA totransmitting optical beacons may typically be very small (e.g., 2%)relative to the amount of time devoted to transmitting optical signals(assuming the bit rate is the same for both). One advantage of thetemporal separation method is that an OTA may use a single opticalsource and a single transmitter optic operating in a single waveband toproduce both optical beacons and optical signals. Similarly, an ORA maybe able to use a single receiver optic and a single detector (ordetector array) to receive both optical beacons and optical signals.That is, the same receiver optic and detector (or detector array) may beable to serve as both an OBR and an OSR in an ORA designed to receivetemporally separated optical beacons and optical signals.

The third method discussed herein of enabling optical beacons to bedistinguished from optical signals is double modulation. In this method,an OTA transmits a single modulated optical beam having the relativelylow-bit-rate modulation of an optical beacon combined with a relativelyhigh-bit-rate modulation of an optical signal. In this way, an opticalbeacon and an optical signal are combined into a single beam. Thisallows the double modulation method to be implemented using an OTAoperating in a single optical waveband using a single optical source anda single transmitter optic.

FIG. 23 depicts three plots of temporal waveforms of transmitted outputbeams for an example of double modulation. “Temporal waveform” is hereindefined as the output optical power as a function of time of a modulatedoptical beam. The upper plot 2300 depicts an example temporal waveforman optical beacon, whereas the middle plot 2302 depicts an exampletemporal waveform of an optical signal during the same time interval. Asdiscussed with regard to the spectral separation method, this example ofan optical beacon and optical signal may be transmitted simultaneouslyin two different wavebands. However, an alternative method is to use asingle beam (in a single waveband) that is modulated by the temporalwaveforms of both the desired optical beacon and the desired opticalsignal. Since the modulation includes both temporal waveforms, thismodulation may have the advantage that a single optical source andtransmitter optic can transmit a single beam that serves as both anoptical beacon and an optical signal. The combined double-modulatedwaveform is depicted in the plot 2304. The amplitudes of the twocomponents (i.e., the optical-beacon component and the optical-signalcomponent) of the double modulation may be adjusted to provideapproximately the same communications range for both optical beacons andoptical signals, based on the known characteristics of OBRs and OSRsthat will be used to receive such doubly-modulated optical beams. For anoptical beacon with a bit rate that is significantly lower (e.g., by afactor of 100) than the corresponding optical signal, it may not bedifficult for OBRs and OSRs to differentiate between the optical-beaconand optical-signal components of the doubly-modulated transmittedoptical beam using, for example, electrical bandpass filtering. Anoptical beacon may have a much lower bit rate than an optical signalsince the information content of optical beacons is typically much lowerthan that of optical signals.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram of an example digital device 2400. Thedigital device 2400 comprises a processor 2402, a memory system 2404, astorage system 2406, a communication network interface 2408, an I/Ointerface 2410, and a display interface 2412 communicatively coupled toa bus 2414. The processor 2402 is configured to execute executableinstructions (e.g., programs). In some embodiments, the processor 2402comprises circuitry or any processor capable of processing theexecutable instructions.

The memory system 2404 is any memory configured to store data. Someexamples of the memory system 2404 are storage devices, such as RAM orROM. The memory system 2404 may comprise the RAM cache. In variousembodiments, data is stored within the memory system 2404. The datawithin the memory system 2404 may be cleared or ultimately transferredto the storage system 2406.

The storage system 2406 is any storage configured to retrieve and storedata. Some examples of the storage system 2406 are flash drives, harddrives, optical drives, and/or magnetic tape. In some embodiments, thedigital device 2400 includes a memory system 2404 in the form of RAM anda storage system 2406 in the form of flash data. Both the memory system2404 and the storage system 2406 comprise computer readable media whichmay store instructions or programs that are executable by a computerprocessor including the processor 2402.

The communications network interface (comm. network interface) 2408 maybe coupled to a network via the link 2414. The communication networkinterface 2408 may support communication over an Ethernet connection, aserial connection, a parallel connection, or an ATA connection, forexample. The communication network interface 2408 may also supportwireless communication (e.g., 802.11 a/b/g/n, WiMax). It will beapparent to those skilled in the art that the communication networkinterface 2408 may support many wired and wireless standards.

The optional input/output (I/O) interface 2410 is any device thatreceives input from the user and output data. The optional displayinterface 2412 is any device that is configured to output graphics anddata to a display. In one example, the display interface 2412 is agraphics adapter.

It will be appreciated that the hardware elements of the digital device2400 are not limited to those depicted in FIG. 24. A digital device 2400may comprise more or less hardware elements than those depicted.Further, hardware elements may share functionality and still be withinvarious embodiments described herein. In one example, encoding and/ordecoding may be performed by the processor 2402 and/or a co-processorlocated on a GPU (i.e., NVIDIA).

FIG. 25 is a depiction of an example optical receiver assembly (ORA)2500. The ORA 2500 is capable of receiving long-range, high-bandwidthoptical narrowcast information. While typical smartphone communicationsare solely received from the transmission of radio waves (e.g., cellularnetworks, WIFI, GPS, and Bluetooth®), the ORA 2500 may receiveinformation in the form of modulated optical beams (e.g., modulatedbeams of optical radiation). In various embodiments, the ORA 2500 may bepart of a one-way or two-way optical narrowcast communications system.It will be appreciated that the ORA 2500 may be attached or includedwithin a digital device. In one example, the digital device with the ORA2500 may be capable of radio smartphone communications as well ascapable of receiving information via optical narrowcasting.

The ORA 2500 may include electronics, software (and/or firmware), andone or more optical receivers (ORs) (described herein) that receive data(i.e., information) in the form of modulated optical beams as part of anoptical narrowcasting system (ONS). The ORA 2500 may be capable of longcommunication range, receiving sufficient information at long distancesfor streaming video with low, correctable error rates. In one example,the signals received by the ORA 2500 may be transmitted by an opticaltransmitter assembly (e.g., OTA 800) described herein.

A modulated optical beam output by an OTA may be of two different types,as described herein: optical beacons and optical signals. In some casesa single modulated optical beam may simultaneously be both an opticalbeacon and an optical signal. A detailed discussion of optical beaconsand optical signals is discussed herein. In some embodiments, an opticalreceiver that is designed to receive optical beacons is referred to asan optical beacon receiver (OBR). An OR that is designed to receiveoptical signals may be referred to as an optical signal receiver (OSR).In various embodiments, an ORA 2500 may include at least one OSR and oneOBR. In some embodiments a single optical receiver may function as bothan OBR and an OSR.

The ORA 2500 may include or be attached to a digital computing devicesuch as a smartphone, media tablet, laptop, camera, game device,wearable device (e.g., smartwatch), automobile central computer, or thelike. In various embodiments, any or all components of the ORA 2500 arewithin a case (e.g., a smartphone case) that is coupled to a digitaldevice such as a smartphone. In one example, the digital device may becoupled to a smartphone case equipped with an ORA 2500 that incorporatesone or more OSRs 2502 and one or more OBRs 2510. Such a smartphone casemay also be equipped with an OTA 800 (not depicted in FIG. 25) tofacilitate two-way communications.

The ORA 2500 may receive modulated optical beams in the visible,near-infrared (IR), or other optical bands produced using incoherentoptical sources (e.g., LEDs), coherent optical sources (e.g., lasers),or the like. For example, the ORA 2500 may receive modulated opticalbeams in the spectral region from the extreme ultraviolet (UV) to thefar IR, which may include wavelengths in the range of 10 to 10⁶ nm. Itwill be appreciated that the ORA 2500 may receive modulated opticalbeams at any wavelength or range of wavelengths in the aforementionedspectral region. For example, the ORA 2500 may receive modulated opticalbeams in the visible or near-IR bands.

The ORA 2500 may receive modulated optical beams transmitted throughair, water, transparent solids (e.g., glass windows), and/or space(i.e., a vacuum). As previously discussed, the ORA 2500 may include adigital device case (e.g., a smartphone case). The digital device casemay include or be coupled to one or more OSRs 2502 and one or more OBRs2510. The OSR 2502 may include, for example, a detector array (e.g., a6×6 array of detectors) 2508. The detector array 2508 is furtherdiscussed herein.

In some embodiments, if the OSR utilizes a single lens having a16.5-mm-square aperture, or similarly sized aperture, the totalthickness of the OSR may be required to be greater than 16.5 mm. As aresult, an OSR utilizing a single lens may be impractical forsmartphones or other personal digital devices, due to the inability tofit it into the available space in a typical device (e.g., a smartphone)or device case (e.g., a smartphone case).

Alternately, an OSR 2502 may include an array of lenslets having smallerapertures (e.g., a 6×6 array of 36 lenslets having 2.75-mm-squaresub-apertures) with a combined 16.5-mm-square aperture with each lensletin each sub-aperture being paired with a separate detector, which mayenable designs that are significantly less than 16.5 inches thick. Forexample, there may be a separate detector located in the focal plane ofeach lenslet in each of the 36 2.75-mm-square sub-apertures of the 6×6lenslet array such that the total thickness of the lenslet array anddetector array may be less than 0.20 inches. In this example, a single0.2-mm-square high-speed silicon photodetector may be placed in thefocal plane of each lenslet. The total thickness of the receiver optics,measured from the photosensitive surface of each detector to theoutermost surface of each lenslet, may be approximately 4 mm. As aresult, the OSR 2502 including lenses and detectors may fit into asmart-phone or digital device case.

It will be appreciated that the ORA 2500 may be or include a separateORA that is coupled to a digital device in any number of ways, may be orinclude a digital device case, or may be or include a digital device(e.g., the smartphone may internally include the ORA 2500). In oneexample, the ORA 2500 may include an OSR 2502 having a 6×6 array oflenslets with a combined 16.5-mm-square aperture, with each lenslethaving an f/# near 1.0. In some embodiments the total thickness of thelenslet array and the detector array may be less than 0.20 inches. Itwill be appreciated that with 36 detectors in the OSR all summed into asingle amplifier, the detector shot noise may be reduced allowing forhigher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and longer range than could beobtained using only the signal from any one of the 36 detectors or usingthe summed signal from fewer than 36 of the detectors. In the sameexample, the ORA 2500 may also include an OBR 2510 consisting of asingle imaging lens with a detector array in its focal plane, where saiddetector array is designed as for use in video cameras.

In various embodiments, the detectors in OSR 2502 operate at ahigh-bit-rate, which may provide the capability of receiving data atmuch higher bit rates than would be possible using the camera built intothe digital device as an OSR. This is because, freed from therequirement to produce video imagery, the high-bit-rate OSR 2502 may bedesigned to operate at a much higher frame rate than could be achievedusing the built-in camera 2504.

The high-bit-rate OSR 2502 may include optics (e.g., the previouslydiscussed 6×6 lenslet array) that concentrate flux collected over itsentrance pupil within a relatively narrow FOV (e.g., 3.6°×3.6°) onto oneor more detectors (discussed further herein) capable of operating at thebit rate used by optical transmitters (e.g., OTA 800). In someembodiments, the high-bit-rate OSR 2502 is a multi-channel receiver, inwhich case it may have at least one detector dedicated to receiving fluxwithin the optical waveband corresponding to each of the channels. Theoptical channels may be in the visible and/or near IR, but could also bein other spectral regions.

In various embodiments, an optical spectral filter may be used to reduceto low levels the out-of-band flux incident on each detector, therebyreducing background noise and increasing the operational range. Theaperture size of the high-bit-rate OSR 2502 may be, in some embodiments,significantly larger than that of video cameras built into typicalportable devices, which may significantly enhance its achievableoperational range at a given bit rate, relative to using the videocameras as optical receivers. It will be appreciated that thehigh-bit-rate OSR 2502 may have fewer pixels and a higher frame ratethan a visible-band camera because the high-bit-rate OSR 2502 may notneed to produce high-resolution video imagery, but rather provide ameans of receiving optical signals.

The optical receiver (e.g., ORA 2500) may work both with stand-aloneoptical transmitters not contained within any existing portable devicesas well as with transmitters based on LED flash units in portabledevices. The ORA 2500 may also provide part of the capability (i.e., thecapability of receiving information in the form of modulated opticalbeams) for two-way optical communication between portable devices.

It will be appreciated that the ORA 2500 may include or be coupled to adevice including electronics, software, firmware, one or more OBRs, andone or more number of OSRs. In some embodiments, the ORA 2500 maycontain one or more tilt actuators allowing for control of the pointingdirection(s) of OBRs and/or OSRs. An ORA's electronics and associatedsoftware (and/or firmware) perform various functions including, but notlimited to, providing an interface between the ORA and its user(s) (orits users' devices), controlling operation of the OBRs and OSRs (e.g.,turning them on and off, setting their data-sampling rate, or the like),receiving and transferring to users (or to users' devices) information,such as identifying information and angular position, obtained by OBRsregarding optical beacons they have detected, receiving and transferringto users (or to users' devices) data extracted from optical signalsreceived by OSRs, and/or controlling one or more tilt actuators to alterthe pointing direction(s) of one or more OBRs and one or more OSRs.

FIG. 26A schematically depicts an ORA 2500 that utilizes a single OSR2502 and a single OBR 2510. The OSR 2502 may include one or more opticaldetectors or detector arrays 2600 and one or more OSR optics 2602. TheOBR 2510 may include one or more optical detector arrays 2608 and one ormore OBR optics 2610. The ORA 2500 in FIG. 26A also includes ORA controlelectronics 2604 and ORA software and/or firmware 2606. The ORA softwareand/or firmware 2606 may control various aspects of how the ORA controlelectronics 2604 responds to user commands, how it processes datareceived optically, in what format it outputs data, and the like.

The ORA control electronics 2604 may accept control inputs from a userdevice via the control-input port 2612 (e.g., a physical or virtual portwhich may receive information from any number of digital devices). TheORA control electronics 2604 outputs to a user device via the OSRdata-output port 2614 (e.g., a physical or virtual port which mayprovide information to any number of digital devices) information it hasreceived from optical signals sent by one or more OTAs 800, and/or otherrelevant information related to optical signals (e.g., estimates of SNRof received optical signals).

The ORA control electronics 2604 may also output to a user device viathe OBR data-output port 2616 (e.g., a physical or virtual port whichmay output information from any number of digital devices) informationretrieved from optical beacons sent by one or more OTAs 800. Saidinformation extracted from optical beacons and output via the OBRdata-output port 2616 may include, but is not limited to, suchinformation as: the number of optical beacons that have been detectedand that currently fall within the OBR's FOV, the current estimatedhorizontal and vertical angular positions within the OBR's FOV of OTAsassociated with detected optical beacons, and/or identifying informationextracted from optical beacons that have been detected by the OBR. Inone example, information retrieved from optical beacons may identifyentities (e.g., business, organizations, or individuals) associated withthe OTAs that sent said optical beacons.

The OSR detector(s) or detector array(s) 2600 may be capable ofdetecting optical flux in wavebands and at bit rates used by opticaltransmitters (e.g., OTA 800) to transmit optical signals. Similarly, theOBR detector array(s) 2608 may be capable of detecting optical flux inwavebands and at bit rates used by optical transmitters (e.g., OTA 800)to transmit optical beacons. Each OSR receiver optic 2602 may collectincident in-band flux over its entrance pupil and within its specifiedFOV, and utilize refraction, reflection, and/or diffraction toconcentrate flux onto one or more of the OSR detectors or detectorarrays 2600. Similarly, each OBR receiver optic 2610 may collectincident in-band flux over its entrance pupil and within its specifiedFOV, and utilize refraction, reflection, and/or diffraction toconcentrate flux onto one or more of the OBR detector arrays 2608.

In some embodiments, one or more optical spectral bandpass filters maybe included as part of each OSR optic 2602 and/or each OBR optic 2610 toreduce to low levels the out-of-band flux incident on the OSRdetector(s) or detector array(s) 2600 and/or the OBR detector array(s)2608. Each such spectral bandpass filter may be a separate component(e.g., a flat refractive plate coated with a spectral bandpass coating)or may include a spectral bandpass coating on an optical surface of oneof the optical components (e.g., a lens or reflective concentrator) ofOSR optic 2602 or OBR optic 2610 used to concentrate flux onto detectorsor detector arrays.

In various embodiments, a single OSR 2502 may comprise multiple opticaldetectors or detector arrays 2600, each paired with its own OSR optic2602. Similarly, in various embodiments, a single OBR 2510 may comprisemultiple optical detector arrays 2608, each paired with its own OBRoptic 2610. Said use of multiple detectors or multiple detector arrayspaired with multiple OSR optics in a single OSR and/or multiple detectorarrays paired with multiple OBR optics in a single OBR may provide ameans of increasing the FOV and/or increasing the OSR's and/or OBR'ssensitivity in certain solid-angular regions, while maintaining asufficiently small thickness of the OSR and/or OBR so that they may fitinto user devices (e.g., smartphones) or device cases (e.g., smartphonecases).

For example, FIG. 26b depicts a simplified schematic diagram of anexample ORA utilizing multiple OSR detectors or detector arrays 2600 a-cand OSR optics 2602-c. OSR detectors or detector arrays 2600 a-c may beidentical or at least similar to each other. OSR optics 2602-c may haveoptical axes that are parallel to each other. It should be noted thatmultiple OSR detectors or detector arrays along with their respectiveOSR optics may be configured in a variety of ways, one example of whichmay be similar the manner in which multiple OTs are configured in FIG.21b , e.g., a two-dimensional array.

The ORA control electronics 2604 and ORA software and/or firmware 2606may enable the user to adjust, via control commands input via thecontrol-input port 2612, various operational settings, and/or provideelectrical power and control signals for operation of the OSRdetector(s) or detector array(s) 2600 and/or the OBR detector arrays(s)2608. In addition, the ORA control electronics 2604 and ORA softwareand/or firmware 2606 may receive and amplify modulated signals from theOSR detector(s) or detector array(s) 2600 and the OBR detector array(s)2608, optionally decrypt the information received optically in the formof optical signals and optical beacons, convert the received informationinto a format suitable for display and/or internal storage, and storethe received information in internal storage (i.e., memory within theORA control electronics 2604). The ORA control electronics 2604 and ORAsoftware and/or firmware 2606 may also enable the user to transferinformation received from OTAs 800, as well as other relevant data, frominternal storage within the ORA control electronics to anotherelectronic device or computer, via the OSR data-output port 2614 and theOBR data-output port 2616.

In some embodiments, the ORA control electronics 2604 and ORA softwareand/or firmware 2606 may be used to control the direction from whichoptical signals and optical beacons are received by tilting one or moreof the OSR 2502 and/or OBR 2510 assemblies. In such cases, tiltactuators may perform the tilting movement. For example, when tiltactuators are used, the tilting could be based on user inputs or becontrolled automatically by the ORA control electronics 2604 and ORAsoftware and/or firmware 2606. In some embodiments, the tilting may bebased on information received from the OBR 2510 regarding the horizontaland vertical angular positions of operating optical transmitters (e.g.,OTA 800), or from pointing commands received via the control-input port2612. In the case of ORAs 2500 in handheld and wearable devices, thedirection from which signals are received may be controlled manually bythe user, by means of hand and/or body motion.

In some embodiments, a function of the OBR 2510 may be to provideinformation to the ORA 2500 allowing it to detect the presence ofoptical beacons transmitted by OTAs 800, distinguishing them fromincident in-band radiation produced by radiation sources other thanoptical transmitters (e.g., natural and artificial illuminationsources). Further, the OBR 2510 may provide information to the ORA 2500allowing it to determine the horizontal and vertical angular positionsof received optical beacons, and therefore of the OTAs 800 that aretransmitting said received optical beacons, within said OBR's FOV. TheOBR 2510 may also provide information extracted from optical beacons tothe ORA 2500 allowing it to identify entities (e.g., businesses,organizations, or private individuals) operating or otherwise associatedwith OTAs 800. In some embodiments, the OBR 2510 may share some or allof its optics and detector arrays with one or more OSRs 2502, or itcould be a separate unit.

In some embodiments, as discussed herein, the LED flash unit 2506 builtinto a smartphone may be utilized as an OTA (e.g., without a collimator)to transmit optical signals and/or optical beacons to other smartphones'cameras or to an ORA 2500 (e.g., a smartphone or smartphone caseequipped with an ORA 2500). To transmit optical information, asmartphone application may produce the necessary digital modulation ofthe flash unit's optical output.

In some cases, some or all of the information output by ORA 2500 via theOSR data-output port 2614 and/or the OBR data-output port 2616 may becombined with sensed data other than information obtained from opticaltransmitters. This could include information received by other sensors.For example, the digital device (e.g., a smartphone) in which an ORA2500 is installed, or with which it is interfaced, may storephotographic or video imagery collected concurrently by any number ofcameras, or by one or more co-located cameras. The device in which anORA 2500 is installed, or with which it is interfaced, might alsoinclude one or more microphones, or accept audio inputs from one or moreco-located microphones, for the purpose of recording ambient sounds toaccompany any information received (e.g., photographic imagery, videos,text, or the like) from one or more OTAs 800. In another example, thedevice in which the ORA 2500 is installed may include GPS information,information received from applications, or other digital devices (e.g.,over a cellular or data network). It will be appreciated that the devicemay include any or all of the information discussed above withinformation retrieved from optical beams and/or sensors.

The digital device (e.g., a smartphone) in which an ORA 2500 isinstalled, or with which it is interfaced, may create a single datasetin a standardized format that combines such photographic, video, and/oraudio data with information the ORA 2500 has received in the form ofoptical signals and/or optical beacons from one or more OTAs 800, aswell as with relevant associated information, such as the estimatedhorizontal and vertical positions of OTAs 800 within the FOV of the OBR2510. Optionally, other data could be included, such as a timestamp andthe latitude, longitude, and altitude of the device in which thereceiver and signal detector are located. Such a combined dataset couldbe uploaded or live-streamed to other devices or onto the internet viaWiFi or other data connections and/or stored as a file for later use.

In some embodiments, the digital camera (e.g., camera 2504 in FIG. 25)in a user's device may serve as either an OBR, an OSR, or both. The bitrate for receiving optical beacons or optical signals may be relativelylow, however, due to the frame-rate limitations of user-device (e.g.,smartphone) cameras. In one example, the bit rate may be approximately30 bits per second. In some embodiments, useful information in the formof short messages could still be received by a smartphone using one ormore of its cameras as one or more OBRs and/or one or more OSRs.

OTAs may, in addition to transmitting high-bit-rate (e.g., 1 Mbit persecond) optical signals to OSRs, transmit optical beacons at bit ratessufficiently low that they could be temporally resolved by typical videocameras (e.g., camera 2504 in FIG. 25) in portable user devices to whichinformation is to be optically transmitted. Also, OBR 2510 in FIG. 26Amay itself be a video camera capable of receiving such low-bit-rateoptical beacons. Video cameras used to receive optical beacons mayoperate in the visible-light waveband or some other optical waveband(e.g., a near-IR band). In some embodiments, low-bit-rate opticalbeacons may provide characteristic signals that a video camera in aportable device could use to detect the presence of optical transmittersand determine their horizontal and vertical angular positions within thecamera's FOV. Said low-bit-rate optical beacon(s) could be transmittedin one or more optical wavelength channels that are completely separatefrom the channel(s) used to transmit information in the form of opticalsignals to the OSR 2502 (see FIG. 25 and FIG. 26A). Alternatively, theoptical beacon(s) could share one or more of the wavelength channelsused to transmit optical signals. In the latter case, the optical beaconcould take the form of a low-bit-rate modulation of the high-bit-rateoptical signal, or transmission of the high-bit-rate optical signalcould be paused periodically to provide time intervals during which thelow-bit-rate optical beacon could be transmitted.

FIG. 27 depicts a functional block diagram of an ORA 2500. The OSR 2502receives optical signals from one or more OTAs (e.g., OTA 800) andconverts the optical signals into electrical signals. In one example,the OSR 2502 includes one or more OSR optics 2602, which concentrateoptical-signal flux (i.e., increase the flux density of optical signals)from OTAs onto one or more OSR detectors or detector arrays 2600. TheOSR optic 2602 may include a square array of identical square-apertureaspheric lenslets, each of which has a single OSR detector in its focalplane. A narrowband optical filter may be included in the OSR optic2602. The narrowband optical filter may be, for example, a multi-layerthin-film interference filter coating on a transparent flat substratelocated on the side of the lenslets opposite the detectors (e.g., thedetectors may be on one side of the lenslet array and the optical filtermay be on the other side of the lenslet array), or it may comprise oneor more multi-layer thin-film interference filter coatings on one ormore of the optical surfaces of OSR optic 2602 (e.g., the surfaces ofthe aforementioned square-aperture lenslets). The substrate materialused for the narrowband filter may be glass with high transmittancethroughout the 800-900 nm waveband. It will be appreciated that thetransmittance of the substrate material may be high for any waveband. Insome embodiments, the substrate for the narrowband optical filter has a20-mm-square aperture and a thickness of 1.1-mm. It will be appreciatedthat the narrowband optical filter may be of any size and shape (e.g.,not necessarily square) and have any thickness. In one example, thenarrowband optical filter may include a center wavelength of thepassband of 850 nm and the width of the passband for 0° angle ofincidence may be 75 nm.

In one example, the material of which the lenslet array of the OSR optic2602 is made may be polycarbonate with a refractive index for wavelength850 nm of 1.5710. Dimensions of the entrance pupil for each lenslet inthe array may be 2.75-mm square. Dimensions of the combined entrancepupil of the lenslet array may be 16.5-mm square. The full width of theFOV of the OSR 2502 with OSR detectors 2600 having 0.203-mm-squarelight-sensitive regions may be 3.6° square when said detectors arelocated in the focal planes of the aforementioned lenslets. In someembodiments, the lens thickness at center is 1.850-mm. The focal lengthof each lens in a 6×6 lens array may be 3.230-mm. Distance from an outersurface of lens to focal plane may be 4.000-mm and in-band opticalefficiency of uncoated lens (which may or may not include narrowbandoptical filter losses) may be 0.8939.

The OSR detectors or detector arrays 2600 may convert the concentratedoptical signals provided by the OSR optic 2602 into electrical signals.The OSR power and clock-signal electronics 2702 may provide theelectrical power and/or clock signals necessary for the OSR detectors ordetector arrays 2600 to function properly. The electrical power andclock signals provided by the OSR power and clock-signal electronics2702 are controlled by the control-input electronics 2704, based oninputs received from the user or user's device via the control-inputport 2612 (see FIG. 26A). The output of the OSR detector or detectorarray 2600 may be amplified and filtered by the OSR amplifier and filter2706. Said filtering may include, for example, bandpass filtering toimprove the SNR. The amplified and filtered signal may have its formatconverted into a convenient form by the OSR format converter 2708. Forexample, the OSR format converter 2708 may convert the electrical signalpulses into a digital form suitable for storing in digital memory aswell as perform error-correction.

The OSR format converter 2708 may also perform decryption, if receivedoptical signals are encrypted. The OSR memory 2710 may accept the datafrom the OSR format converter 2708 and store the data in digital memory.Data stored in OSR memory 2710 may be output via the OSR data-outputport 2614, with said output being controlled by the control-inputelectronics 2704 based on commands received via the control-input port2612. The control-input electronics 2704 also controls the operation ofthe OSR amplifier and filter 2706, as well as the OSR format converter2708, based on commands received via the control-input port 2612.

The OBR 2510 in FIG. 27 may receive optical beacons sent by one or moreOTAs (e.g., OTA 800) and convert said beacons into electrical signals.By analyzing the electrical signals, the ORA 2500 may detect thepresence of optical beacons, estimate the horizontal and verticalangular positions relative to the OBR's FOV of OTAs sending said opticalbeacons, and extract information identifying entities operating orotherwise associated with said OTAs. As discussed herein, the OBR 2510may include one or more OBR optics 2610, which concentrateoptical-beacon flux (i.e., increase the flux density of optical beacons)from OTAs onto one or more OBR detector arrays 2608. The OBR optic 2610may consist of one or more imaging lenses, each of which has a singleOBR detector array 2608 in its focal plane. One or more narrowbandoptical filters may be included in the OBR optic 2610. Each suchnarrowband optical filter may be, for example, a multi-layer thin-filminterference filter coating on a transparent flat substrate located onthe side of an OBR imaging lens opposite the detector array with whichit is associated (e.g., each detector array may be on one side of itsassociated imaging lens and the optical filter may be on the other sideof the imaging lens), or it may comprise one or more multi-layerthin-film interference filter coatings on one or more of the opticalsurfaces of OBR optic 2610 (e.g., one or more optical surfaces of eachof the aforementioned imaging lenses). The substrate material used forthe narrowband filter may be glass with high transmittance throughoutthe 800-900 nm waveband. It will be appreciated that the transmittanceof the substrate material may be high for any waveband. In someembodiments, the substrate for each narrowband optical filter has a6-mm-diameter circular aperture and a thickness of 0.5-mm. It will beappreciated that the narrowband optical filter may be of any size andshape (e.g., not necessarily square) and have any thickness. In oneexample, the narrowband optical filter may include a center wavelengthof the passband of 850 nm and the width of the passband for 0° angle ofincidence may be 75 nm.

With reference to FIG. 27, the OBR detector array 2608 may convert theconcentrated optical beacons provided by the OBR optic 2610 intoelectrical signals. The OBR power and clock-signal electronics 2712 mayprovide the electrical power and/or clock signals necessary for the OBRdetector array 2608 to function properly. The electrical power and clocksignals provided by the OBR power and clock-signal electronics 2712 maybe controlled by the control-input electronics 2704, based on inputsreceived from the user or user's device via the control-input port 2612.

The output of the OBR detector array 2608 may be amplified and filteredby the OBR amplifier and filter 2714. Said filtering may include, forexample, bandpass filtering to improve the SNR. The amplified andfiltered signal may then be input into the OBR data processor 2716,which may perform the processing necessary to detect optical beacons,determine the horizontal and vertical angular positions within the OBR'sFOV of the OTAs that sent the optical beacons, and extract theidentifying information from the beacons.

The OBR data processor 2716 may be or include any number of processors(e.g., physical or virtual). The OBR data processor 2716 may detectoptical beacons, for example, by searching the electrical-signal outputas a function of time produced by each detector in the OBR detectorarray 2608 for a beacon header code, which is a specific binary sequenceof 1-bit and 0-bit pulses (e.g., 0010110001000011101) included inoptical beacons for the purpose of allowing OBRs to detect them.

In some embodiments, once an optical beacon has been detected, the OBRdata processor 2716 may estimate the horizontal and vertical angularposition of said optical beacon within the FOV of the OBR optics fromthe location in the OBR detector array of the electrical signal saidbeacon produces. Since the OBR optic 2610 is an imaging optic, there maybe a straightforward mapping between the horizontal and verticalposition where an electrical signal is produced in the OBR detectorarray and the horizontal and vertical angular position within the OBR'sFOV of the optical beacon that produced said electrical signal. The OBRdata processor 2716 may extract identifying information from a detectedoptical beacon by receiving and storing in digital form the sequence of1-bit and 0-bit pulses that follow the beacon header code in theelectrical signal corresponding to said detected optical beacon. Whenthe identifying information has been encrypted, the OBR data processor2716 may decrypt the identifying information. The OBR data processor2716 may also perform error correction on the identifying information,as well as convert it into a convenient format for storage in digitalmemory. The results produced by the OBR data processor may be stored indigital form in the OBR memory 2718. Data stored in OBR memory 2718 maybe output via the OBR data-output port 2616, with said output beingcontrolled by the control-input electronics 2704 based on commandsreceived via the control-input port 2612. The control-input electronics2704 also controls the operation of the OBR amplifier and filter 2714,as well as the OBR data processor 2716, based on commands received viathe control-input port 2612.

In some embodiments the identifying information and horizontal andvertical positioning information obtained from optical beacons that havebeen detected and received by the ORA 2500 may allow its user to selectone or more OTAs of interest and then receive optical signals from thoseOTAs, but not from other OTAs which are not of interest to the user. Insuch cases, the received identifying information may provide the userwith sufficient knowledge of the OTAs that have been detected (e.g., bya display of information regarding OTA(s) detected) to allow the user toselect one or more of interest.

An optical signal from a given OTA of interest may then be received byfirst tilting the ORA 2500 either manually or by means of tilt actuatorsuntil the associated OTA is located within the FOV of the OSR 2502,where the positioning information previously obtained from said OTA'soptical beacon may be used to tilt the ORA by the correct horizontal andvertical amounts to put the OTA within the OSR's FOV. Once an OTA ofinterest has been positioned within the OSR's FOV, a command issued bythe user via the control-input port 2612 may cause the ORA to extractand store information from the optical signal transmitted by that OTA,which may then be output via the OSR data-output port 2614.

Like the OTA 800, the ORA 2500 may be interfaced with a computing device(e.g., a notebook computer or smartphone) by means of a wired orwireless connection that provides inputs to the ORA 2500 via thecontrol-input port 2612 and accepts outputs from the ORA 2500 via theOSR data-output port 2614 and the OBR data-output port 2616. Softwareinstalled in this computing device may allow a user to operate and/orcontrol the ORA 2500. For example, the user may be able to downloadreceived data files, as well as specify the signal filtering parameters,error-correction methods to be used, and various other receiveroperating parameters.

In some embodiments, the computing device interfaced with the ORA 2500may be any digital device. As discussed herein, a digital device is anydevice with a processor and memory. The computing device may receivedata from the ORA 2500 (e.g., via a USB port).

FIG. 28a is a flow diagram 2800 depicting the process of receivingoptical signals by an ORA 2500. In step 2802, the OSR optic 2602collects an optical signal from an OTA located within its FOV andconcentrates the optical signal onto the OSR detector or detector array2600. The OSR optic 2602 may include an optical narrowband filter forimproving the SNR by attenuating out-of-band optical radiation (e.g.,sunlight, manmade light sources, and the like).

In step 2804, the OSR detector or detector array 2600 converts theconcentrated optical signal into an electrical signal.

In step 2806, the OSR amplifier and filter 2706 amplifies and/or filtersthe electrical signal output from the OSR detector or detector array2600. The filtering may include, for example, bandpass filtering toremove electrical noise that is outside of the signal band.

In step 2808, OSR format converter 2708 converts the amplified andfiltered signal into a convenient digital format. During this step,error correction may be performed and the signal may be decrypted if theoriginal optical signal was encrypted.

In step 2810, the OSR memory 2710 may store the formatted optical signaldata output from the OSR format converter 2708.

In step 2812, the OSR data output port 2614 may output the formattedoptical signal data stored in the OSR memory 2710 to a digital device.

FIG. 28b is a flow diagram depicting the process of receiving opticalbeacons by an ORA 2500. In step 2814, the OBR optic 2610 collects anoptical beacon from an OTA located within its FOV and concentrates saidoptical beacon onto the OBR detector array 2608. The OBR optic 2610 mayinclude an optical narrowband filter for improving the SNR byattenuating out-of-band optical radiation (e.g., sunlight, manmade lightsources, and the like).

In step 2816, the OBR detector array 2608 converts the concentratedoptical beacon into an electrical signal. This electrical version of theoptical beacon is referred to herein as an electrical beacon signal.

In step 2818, the OBR amplifier and filter 2714 amplifies and filtersthe electrical beacon signal output from the OBR detector array 2608.The filtering may include, for example, of bandpass filtering to removeelectrical noise that is outside of the signal band.

In step 2820, the OBR data processor 2716 may process the amplified andfiltered electrical beacon signal to detect the optical beacon,determine the horizontal and vertical angular positions within the OBR'sFOV of the OTA that sent the optical beacon, and/or extract theidentifying information from the beacon. During this step, errorcorrection may also be performed and the signal may be decrypted if theoriginal optical beacon was encrypted.

In step 2822, the OBR memory 2718 may store the beacon informationobtained from the electrical beacon signal by the OBR data processor2716.

In step 2824, the OBR data output port 2616 outputs the beaconinformation stored in the OBR memory 2718 to the digital device.

It will be appreciated that many different optical assemblies (e.g.,combinations of one or more lenses, reflectors, filters, and/or othertypes of optical components, as well as one or more optical detectors oroptical detector arrays) may be utilized in conjunction with embodimentsdescribed herein. FIGS. 29A-34 depict one example of a combination oflenslets and optical detectors comprising an OSR 2502, as well aspossible performance measures for this example.

FIG. 29a is a three-dimensional depiction of a detector 2900 and a beamof collimated rays traced through the lenslet 2902, which focuses (i.e.,concentrates) the rays onto the light-sensitive surface of detector2900. Each detector 2900 may be customized or commercially available.

FIG. 29b depicts a three-dimensional view of an array of lenslets 2904.The lenslet array 2904 comprises 36 identical lenslets 2902 arranged ina 6×6 array. Each lenslet 2902 in the array 2904 may be asquare-aperture aplanatic lenslet with aspheric optical surfaces on bothsides. The optical axes of all the lenslets in the array are parallel toeach other. The square optically sensitive surface of a detector lies inthe focal plane of each lens, centered on the optical axis. In oneexample, the material of which the lenslet array 2904 is made may beuncoated polycarbonate with a refractive index of 1.5710 for light ofwavelength equal to 850 nm. In this example, the entrance pupil of eachlenslet in the array may be 2.75-mm square. The combined entrance pupilof the lenslet array 2904 may be 16.5-mm square. The FOV of an OSRcomprising this optical assembly with a detector having a0.203-mm-square light-sensitive surface perpendicular to and centered onthe optical axis in the focal plane of each lenslet may be 3.6° square.In this example, the maximum incidence angle of rays incident on adetector's light sensitive surface for a point source at infinitycentered on the FOV of the OSR is 37°.

In one example, each lenslet 2904 may include a square entrance pupil,2.75-mm on a side so that the entrance-pupil area of each lenslet maybe:a _(rec)=(2.75 mm)²=7.5625 mm²

It will be appreciated that the entrance pupil of each lenslet may beany shape (e.g., circular, oblong, rectangular, polygonal, or the like)and any size. As such, the receiver optic may include any entrance-pupilarea.

In various embodiments, the ORA 2500 uses a 6×6 array of axisymmetricaspheric lenslets, each with a single near-IR detector in its focalplane. Thus the total number of receiver optics in this example is:N_(rec)=36It will be appreciated that there may be any number of receiver opticsand that the array may not necessarily be square. Further, although inthis example all of the lenslets and detectors may be of the same type(i.e., each having the same properties and capabilities), it will beappreciated that there may be any number of lenslets including differentcombinations of different types of lenslets. Similarly, there may be anynumber of detectors including different combinations of different typesof detectors.

The array of lenslets 2904 may be any size. In one example, the array oflenslets 2904 may be 0.5 inch per side. In this example, each lenslet2902 of the array of lenslets 2904 may be about 0.083-inch in width.

FIG. 30 depicts a diagonal cross-section (i.e., taken from one corner ofthe square entrance pupil to the corner on the opposite side) through anoptical axis of an aspherical lenslet (e.g., lenslet 2902) that may beused in an optical assembly. The light-sensitive surface of an opticaldetector (e.g., detector 2900) may be at the focal plane (z=0 mm) and iscentered on and perpendicular to the optical axis. Here, the asphericallenslet's generally planar side is located between 2.15 mm and 2.20 mmfrom the optical detector. The aspherical lenslet's generally convexside is approximately 4-mm from the optical detector at the lenslet'sapex.

In this example, the combined entrance pupil of the array of lenslets2904 is 16.5-mm square. The lenslet thickness, measured parallel to thez-axis of FIG. 30 is 1.85 mm at the center and 0.718 mm at a corner ofthe square lenslet aperture. The distance along the optical axis fromthe outer optical surface of the lenslet to the focal plane isapproximately 4.0 mm. The focal length of the lens may be:f_(rec)=3.23 mm

The in-band optical efficiency of the OSR optic is defined as thefraction of collected optical power in the operational waveband of theOSR that is lost due to reflection, transmission, and/or absorptionlosses in the optical materials and at the optical surfaces. The in-bandoptical efficiency of the example lenslet-array OSR optic design withuncoated optical surfaces may be:η_(rec)=0.894for a collimated beam incident on the OSR optic parallel to the opticalaxis. The optical efficiency value provided in the above formula couldbe significantly higher with AR coatings on the lenslet surfaces. Theoptical efficiency may be substantially the same for all incidentpropagation directions within the FOV of the OSR.

FIG. 31a depicts specification of an example detector (e.g., detector2900 of FIG. 29A). In one example, the detectors used in the opticalreceiver are OSI Optoelectronics PIN-HR008 high-speed Si photodiodes.These are non-immersed detectors, so the refractive index of thematerial (i.e., air) in which the detectors are immersed is:n_(det)=1

The maximum bit rate of this particular photodiode is 800 MHz, andquantum efficiency is 0.740. The specific detectivity is 4.06×10¹² cmHz^(1/2) W⁻¹.

It will be appreciated that other detectors may be used such as, but notlimited to, OSI Optoelectronics PIN-HR020 high-speed Si photodiodes.Other detectors used in conjunction with some embodiments may have anymaximum bit rate, quantum efficiency, specific detectivity, and activearea.

FIG. 31b depicts a plot of the PIN-HR008 detector's spectral response.The spectral response is wider than the transmitted spectrum. For thisreason, the optical receiver may use an optical bandpass filter toprevent background radiation from outside the transmitted spectralregion from contributing to the detector noise.

FIG. 31c is a plot of the spectral response of an example opticalbandpass filter that may be used in conjunction with the PIN-HR0080detector to reduce detector noise due to background radiation. As shownin the FIG. 31a , the active area of the detector is square in shape,with width x_(det)=0.203 mm. Thus, each detector has an active area of:a _(det)=(0.203 mm)²=0.041209 mm²

FIG. 32 is a depiction of a photodiode array (e.g., a detector array foruse with the lenslets 2904) using PIN-HR0080 detectors with dimensionsin millimeters. Each of these detectors is the same as the detectordepicted in FIG. 31a , but instead of being mounted singly inside ametal housing they are all mounted together on a single substrate.

FIG. 33 depicts the irradiance distribution produced on a singledetector (e.g., one of the detectors in the detector array of FIG. 32)of the OSR using the lenslet array of FIG. 29b as an OSR optic when theincident beam from an optical transmitter (e.g., OTA 800 of FIG. 9) iscentered on the FOV of the OSR. The width of this distribution is muchsmaller than the 0.203-mm width of the active area of the detector, so100% of the flux transferred to the focal plane of each lens may beincident on the active area when the incident beam is centered on theOSR's FOV.

In various embodiments, the full width of the OSR's FOV can be computedfrom the formula:

${FOV}_{rec} = {2{\tan^{- 1}\left( \frac{x_{\det}}{2f_{rec}} \right)}}$where x_(det) is the width of the square detector and f_(rec) is thefocal length of the OSR optic.

Substitution of the detector width and the focal length of the receiverinto the previous formula then gives:

${FOV}_{rec} = {{2{\tan^{- 1}\left( \frac{0.203\mspace{14mu}{mm}}{{2 \cdot 3.23}\mspace{14mu}{mm}} \right)}} = {3.6{^\circ}}}$

FIG. 34 depicts the irradiance distribution produced on a singledetector when the transmitted beam is incident at an angle of 1.8°(i.e., half the width of the OSR's FOV) relative to the center of theFOV. Although the distribution is wider than when the incident beam iscentered on the FOV, its width is still small relative to the width ofthe active area of the detector.

The external quantum efficiency of the example detector is:QE_(det)=0.74

The D-star value of the detector is

${Dstar}_{\det} = {4.06 \times 10^{12}\frac{{cm}\sqrt{Hz}}{W}}$

The optics in an OSR optic 2602 and in an OBR optic 2610 may include anynumber of optical components. The optical components in an OSR optic2602 and in an OBR optic 2610 receiver may utilize refraction,reflection, and/or diffraction.

An étendue analysis of an example OSR 2502 comprising the lenslet array2904 of FIG. 29b , where each lenslet 2902 has a detector 2900 in itsfocal plane, as depicted in FIG. 29a , is as follows. The étendue of asingle detector in the detector array is given by the formula:ε_(det) =πn _(det) ² a _(det) sin²(θ_(det))where a_(det) is the area of a single detector, n_(det) is therefractive index of the material in which the detectors are immersed,and θ_(det) is the maximum incidence angle of rays incident on thedetector relative to its surface normal. In this example, the OSR's FOVcorresponding to a single detector is square, with angular widthFOV_(rec). Since this angle is sufficiently small relative to 90°, thesmall-angle approximation may be used in computing the solid angle. Inthis example, the solid angle corresponding to the single-detectorreceiver FOV is therefore:Ω_(rec)=FOV_(rec) ²Because of the small-angle approximation, the projected solid angle isequal to the solid angle:Ω_(p,rec)=FOV_(rec) ²

The étendue of one of the lenslets of the OSR lenslet array is:ε_(rec)=a_(rec)FOV_(rec) ²where a_(rec) is its entrance pupil area. Setting the detector étendueequal to the lenslet étendue and solving for a_(rec) gives the result:

$a_{{rec},\max} = \frac{\pi\; n_{\det}^{2}a_{\det}{\sin^{2}\left( \theta_{\det} \right)}}{{FOV}_{rec}^{2}}$

The quantity a_(rec,max) represents the maximum allowable entrance-pupilarea of one of the receiver optics for which it will be possible toobtain efficient flux transfer. The maximum allowable total combinedreceiver entrance pupil area is:

$A_{{rec},\max} = \frac{\pi\; n_{\det}^{2}N_{rec}a_{\det}{\sin^{2}\left( \theta_{\det} \right)}}{{FOV}_{rec}^{2}}$where N_(rec) is the total number of lenslets in the lenslet array. Theminimum allowable value θ_(det,min) of the angle θ_(det) given a desiredvalue A_(rec) of the total combined entrance pupil area of the OSRlenslet array and the values of other OSR parameters may be computed asfollows:

$\theta_{\det,\min} = {\sin^{- 1}\left( {\frac{{FOV}_{rec}}{n_{\det}}\sqrt{\frac{A_{rec}}{\pi\; N_{rec}a_{\det}}}} \right)}$

The detectors in this example are square, so the width each side of theactive area of a detector is:x _(det)=√{square root over (a _(det))}

The signal intensity (in W/sr) produced at the entrance pupil of the OSRoptic during a transmitted 1-bit from an OTA located a distance r fromthe OSR optic is:I _(rec)(r,I _(trans))=n _(trans) T _(atmos)(r)I _(trans)where I_(trans) is the ideal loss-free (i.e., not including reflection,transmission, and absorption losses due to non-ideal coatings andoptical materials used in the OTA optics) output intensity produced bythe OTA along the line of sight from the OTA to the OSR optic. The idealloss-free intensity I_(trans) is used in the above formula because thelosses due to non-ideal optical materials and coatings are accounted forvia the optical efficiency η_(trans) of the OTA optics. The functionT_(atmos)(r) in the above formula is the in-band atmospherictransmittance along the propagation path. Characterizing the atmospherictransmittance in terms of the atmospheric extinction coefficientα_(atmos), the above formula becomes:I _(rec)(r,I _(trans))=n _(trans)exp(−α_(atmos) r)I _(trans)

The solid angle subtended at the OTA by the entrance pupil of one of theOSR lenslets may be:

${\Omega_{{rec},{pupil}}(r)} = \frac{a_{rec}}{r^{2}}$

When the OTA is within the FOV of the OSR, the optical power incident onone of the OSR detectors during transmission of a single 1-bit may be:Φ_(det)(r,I _(trans))=n _(rec) I _(rec)(r,I _(trans))Ω_(rec,pupil)(r)where n_(rec) is the optical efficiency of the OSR optic, which includesthe effects of non-ideal optical materials and coatings. The aberrationsof the OSR optic may be sufficiently low that all of the transmittedpower incident on the entrance pupil of a single lenslet falls on asingle OSR detector when the angular position of the OTA lies within theOSR's FOV. The total signal energy deposited on this detector duringtransmission of a single 1-bit may simply be the optical power times thebit duration τ:E _(det)(r,I _(trans))=Φ_(det)(r,I _(trans))τ

The corresponding number of signal electrons produced in this detectormay be:

${e_{\det}\left( {r,I_{trans}} \right)} = {{QE}_{\det}\frac{\lambda_{c}}{hc}{E_{\det}\left( {r,I_{trans}} \right)}}$where QE_(det) is the external quantum efficiency of the detector, h isPlanck's constant, c is the speed of light, and λ_(c) is the centerwavelength of the OSR waveband. The bit duration τ may be expressed asthe modulation duty cycle n_(mod) of the transmitted optical pulsesdivided by the transmitted bit rate B. As a result of the foregoing:

${e_{\det}\left( {r,I_{trans}} \right)} = {\frac{n_{trans}n_{rec}n_{mod}Q\; E_{\det}\lambda_{c}a_{rec}}{hcB}\frac{I_{trans}}{r^{2}}{\exp\left( {{- \alpha_{atmos}}r} \right)}}$

The standard deviation of the photon noise produced in a single detectordue to the 1-bit signal electrons is the square root of the number ofsignal electrons. In this example, this photon-noise standard deviationmay be:

${\sigma_{\det}\left( {r,I_{trans}} \right)} = {\sqrt{\frac{n_{trans}n_{rec}n_{mod}Q\; E_{\det}\lambda_{c}a_{rec}}{hcB}}\frac{\sqrt{I_{trans}}}{r}{\exp\left( {{- \frac{\alpha_{atmos}}{2}}r} \right)}}$

The optical power incident on a single OSR detector due to backgroundradiation may be:Φ_(back)=n_(rec)L_(back)ΔλΩ_(rec)a_(rec)where L_(back) is the spectral background radiance, Δλ is the opticalwaveband, and Ω_(rec) is the solid angle corresponding to the OSR's FOV.The corresponding energy collected during one integration time may be:E_(back)=Φ_(back)τ_(int)

where τ_(int) is the integration time, which can be expressed in termsof the bit rate B as:

$\tau_{int} = \frac{1}{B}$

As a result of the foregoing:

$E_{back} = \frac{n_{rec}L_{back}\Delta\;\lambda\;\Omega_{rec}a_{rec}}{B}$

The corresponding number of electrons produced by background radiationin one detector during one integration time may be:

$e_{back} = {Q\; E_{\det}\frac{\lambda_{c}}{hc}E_{back}}$

As a result of the foregoing:

$e_{back} = \frac{n_{rec}Q\; E_{\det}L_{back}\Delta\;\lambda\;\lambda_{c}\Omega_{rec}a_{rec}}{hcB}$

The standard deviation of the photon noise due to background radiationis obtained by taking the square root of e_(back):

$\sigma_{back} = \sqrt{\frac{n_{rec}Q\; E_{\det}L_{back}\Delta\;\lambda\;\lambda_{c}\Omega_{rec}a_{rec}}{hcB}}$

Detector noise may be characterized by a D-star value. The electricalbandwidth of the detector is half the bit rate:

${\Delta\; f_{\det}} = \frac{B}{2}$

From the definition of D-star, the noise-equivalent power for one OSRdetector is:

${NEP}_{\det} = {\sqrt{a_{\det}\Delta\; f_{\det}}\frac{1}{{Dstar}_{\det}}}$where Dstar_(det) is the D-star value for each of the detectors in thereceiver. The standard deviation of the detector-noise electronsproduced during one integration time is:

$\sigma_{Dstar} = {{NEP}_{\det}\tau_{int}\frac{Q\; E_{\det}\lambda_{c}}{hc}}$

Since the bit rate B is the inverse of τ_(int), the result is:

$\sigma_{Dstar} = {\sqrt{\frac{a_{\det}}{2B}}\frac{Q\; E_{\det}\lambda_{c}}{{hcDstar}_{\det}}}$

The three noise sources discussed above are all statisticallyindependent. Thus the combined noise variance equals the sum of thevariances of the separate noise sources. For a 1-bit, the combined noiseproduced in one detector may be:σ_(1,total)(r,I _(trans))≦√{square root over (σ_(det) ²(r,I_(trans))+σ_(back) ²+σ_(Dstar) ²)}.

The corresponding combined noise produced during a 0-bit is the same asfor a 1-bit, except that there is no contribution from photon noiseproduced by the transmitted signal, since no optical power istransmitted during a 0-bit. Thus, the combined noise in one detectorduring a 0-bit may be:σ_(0,total)=√{square root over (σ_(back) ²+σ_(Dstar) ²)}.

Invoking the statistical independence of the noise in each detector inthe OSR, the combined noise in these N_(rec) detectors may be:σ_(1N,total)(r,I _(trans))=√{square root over (N _(rec))}√{square rootover (σ_(det) ²(r,I _(trans))+σ_(back) ²+σ_(Dstar) ²)}for a transmitted 1-bit andσ_(0N,total)=√{square root over (N _(rec))}√{square root over (σ_(back)²+σ_(Dstar) ²)}for a transmitted 0-bit. The signal-to-noise ratio for the opticalreceiver is defined as the combined 1-bit signal level divided by thecombined 1-bit noise level:

${{SNR}_{rec}\left( {r,I_{trans}} \right)} = {\frac{N_{rec}{e_{\det}\left( {r,I_{trans}} \right)}}{\sqrt{N_{rec}}\sqrt{{\sigma_{\det}^{2}\left( {r,I_{trans}} \right)} + \sigma_{back}^{2} + \sigma_{Dstar}^{2}}}.}$This simplifies to:

${{SNR}_{rec}\left( {r,I_{trans}} \right)} = {\sqrt{\frac{N_{rec}}{{\sigma_{\det}^{2}\left( {r,I_{trans}} \right)} + \sigma_{back}^{2} + \sigma_{Dstar}^{2}}}{{e_{\det}\left( {r,I_{trans}} \right)}.}}$

The software in the optical receiver may use a threshold to determinewhether or not a given bit is a 0-bit or a 1-bit. The followingthreshold level may be used for this purpose:

${{Thresh}_{bit}\left( {r,I_{trans}} \right)} = {\frac{\sigma_{{0N},{total}}}{\sigma_{{0N},{total}} + {\sigma_{{1N},{total}}\left( {r,I_{trans}} \right)}}N_{rec}{{e_{\det}\left( {r,I_{trans}} \right)}.}}$

In various embodiments, when the combined signal received during oneintegration time by the optical receiver is greater than or equal tothis threshold value, the received bit is assumed to be a 1-bit.Otherwise, the received bit is assumed to be a 0-bit. Using thethreshold level herein may ensure that the bit-error probability is thesame for 0-bits as for 1-bits, and that the overall bit-errorprobability is as low as possible. The bit-error probability isP _(bit,error)(r,I _(trans))=P _(cnorm)[−Thresh_(bit)(r,I_(trans)),0,σ_(0N,total)]where P_(cnorm)(x,μ,σ) is the cumulative normal probability distributionwith mean μ and standard deviation σ. This equation may be solvednumerically to obtain the communication range r_(comm)(I_(trans)) as afunction of ideal (i.e., loss-free) intensity for which the bit-errorprobability equals a desired value.

As previously noted, the technology disclosed herein may be used totransmit and receive information within an ad hoc network, which is atype of communications network established directly between two or moredevices without relying on a base station or central access point. Assuch, two devices may directly communicate over long ranges at highbandwidths without any access to conventional radio-wave basedcommunications systems such as cellular networks, satellite networks,WiFi networks, Bluetooth® networks, and the like. In some instances, thead-hoc network may include an internet-gateway device that shares its RFdata connection with one or more optical narrowcasting devices that donot have access to RF data networks.

FIG. 35 illustrates one such implementation of an ad-hoc opticalnarrowcasting network environment 3500. It should be noted that althoughthe ad-hoc optical narrowcasting network environment of FIG. 35 will bedescribed primarily with reference to a mobile device providing internetaccess through an RF data connection, in other instances the ad hocoptical narrowcasting network may be established for other purposes. Forexample, the ad-hoc network may implemented as a mobile ad-hoc networkthat provides point-to-point communications between mobile devices, as avehicular ad-hoc network that provides point-to-point communicationsbetween vehicles and roadside equipment or advertising nodes, as an adhoc network that links a mobile device with a fixed Internet-gatewaydevice, as an ad hoc network that links a mobile device with a fixednode of an advertising business, as an ad hoc network linking multipleindividuals in a social setting, and for other purposes.

In ad-hoc environment 3500, mobile devices 3510A and 3510B (e.g.,smartphones) directly communicate by transmitting digitally modulatedoptical beams 3530-3531 through space or some other propagation medium.Each device respectively includes an optical transmitting element 3511(e.g., an element of an OTA) and an optical receiving element 3512(e.g., an element of an ORA including one or more lenses or lensletarrays and one or more optical detectors). Although bidirectionalcommunication is illustrated in this example, in some instances the adhoc network may be unidirectional. For example, a transmitting element3511 of mobile device 3510B may broadcast a digitally modulated opticalbeam 3531 that is received by receiving element 3512 of mobile device3510A. Additionally, although the ad hoc network in this exemplaryenvironment is established between mobile devices 3510A and 3510B, inother implementations the ad hoc network may be established using fixeddevices configured with OTAs/ORAs, vehicles configured with OTAs/ORAs,and other devices.

Modulated optical beams 3530 and 3531 may include information such astext information, voice information, audio information, videoinformation, application information, and other information that may beshared over the ad-hoc network. For example, the devices may use opticalnarrowcasting in accordance with the disclosure to share photographs, alive video stream, a voice conversation, or documents. Additionally, asfurther described below, modulated optical beam 3530 may includeinformation to be sent over RF communication network 3550 by device3510B, and modulated optical beam 3531 may include information retrievedby mobile device 3510B over RF communication network 3550. Inimplementations, mobile devices may initialize an optical narrowcastingapplication, further described below, that may be used to controlvarious parameters of the ad-hoc network connection such as devicetrust, device permissions, what received information is stored involatile or non-volatile memory, etc.

In the example environment of FIG. 35, device 3510A has no access orlimited access to RF communication networks. For example, device 3510Amay be a smartphone located in an area without WiFi network availabilityand where the user's cellular carrier does not offer coverage. Bycontrast, mobile device 3510B has access to one or more RF communicationnetworks over an RF communication network 3550. For example, device3510B may access one or more WiFi networks through one or more Wifiaccess points 3560 (e.g., routers), a satellite network through one ormore satellites 3570 (and an outdoor/indoor satellite unit), and acellular network through one or more cellular or radio stations 3580.The RF communication network 3550 may use any suitable RF communicationprotocols such as cellular telecommunications protocols (e.g., GSM, LTE,CDMA2000, etc.), WiFi communications protocols (e.g., 802.11g, 802.11n,802.11ac, etc.), etc.

As such, in this environment mobile device 3510B may be configured as anoptical narrowcasting hotspot that shares an RF connection (e.g., aconnection to the Internet, a LAN, and/or a WAN) with devices (e.g.,mobile device 3510A) that do not have access to or cannot access RFnetworks. In other words, mobile device 3510A may be “tethered” tomobile device 3510B using an ad hoc optical narrowcasting connection. Avariety of benefits may be realized by this implementation.

By way of example, ad-hoc optical narrowcasting network environment 3500may be used to provide or extend Internet access to devices that arelocated in remote locations without RF signal availability and/ordevices that do not have the necessary hardware/chipsets for formingcellular, satellite, WiFi or other like connections. For instance,consider a rural area residence that relies on a fixed satellite outdoorunit for providing Internet access. In this scenario, a wireless RFgateway (e.g., a WiFi router) may broadcast wireless access to thesatellite connection that is available provided that residents arewithin a close proximity of the gateway. However, if a resident moves asubstantial distance from the gateway (e.g., greater than 50 m), thegateway's signal may be too weak for a mobile device of the resident toaccess the network. The aforementioned problem may be addressed bydeploying an OTA and ORA at the residence that may broadcast and receivemodulated optical beams at distances of 200 m, 400 m, or even greater.For instance, the satellite outdoor unit may be retrofitted with a OTAand ORA. As another example, ad-hoc optical narrowcasting networks maybe used to provide or extend Internet access in disaster relief zones,in military zones, and other zones that do not readily have access to RFcommunication networks.

In some implementations, before an optical narrowcasting ad-hoc networkis established directly between mobile devices 3510A and 3510B, at leastone of the devices may first confirm that the other device is a trusteddevice to which it will transmit optical beacons and/or optical signalscontaining information other than identifying information (e.g., voicemessages, text messages, document files, advertisements, etc.) and/or atrusted device from which it will demodulate and decode received opticalbeacons and/or optical signals containing information other thanidentifying information. In implementations, trust may be established byreviewing the source identifying information contained in an opticalbeacon transmitted by a device. For example, the beacon transmitted by adevice may contain source identifying information such as a uniqueoptical narrowcasting ID assigned to the device, a unique media accesscontrol (MAC) address assigned to the device, or some other type ofidentification information. In some instances trust may be establishedby transmitting a code or password in an optical beacon or opticalsignal. Alternatively, the information contained in an optical beacon oroptical signal may be encrypted using a key that was previously madeavailable to trusted users. As would be appreciated by one having skillin the art, a variety of methods may be implemented to establish trustand/or secure communications between devices on an optical narrowcastingad-hoc network.

Alternatively, in some instances there may be no need to establishtrust. For example, where the information transmitted by an OTA isintended to be publically received by any device within the modulatedoptical beam's path (e.g., advertising information), or where an ORA isconfigured to accept all optical signals, a device may forego the trustprocess.

FIGS. 36A-36C illustrate an example graphical user interface 3600 forsetting ad-hoc networking settings that may be implemented inembodiments. The graphical user interface may be provided byinitializing an application instance on a device (e.g., mobile devices3510A or 3510B). For example, the application may be offered as acomponent of an optical narrowcasting application. Depending on theimplementation, the application may be a native application or athird-party application. In the particular example of FIGS. 36A-36C, theapplication is implemented on a smartphone.

As illustrated by FIG. 36A, the graphical user interface may present auser with a control 3610 (e.g., a radio box, button, toggle, slider,etc.) for enabling or disabling optical narrowcasting. When opticalnarrowcasting is enabled, the mobile device's OTA and/or ORA may beconfigured to transmit and/or receive modulated optical beams. As such,the mobile device may form an optical narrowcasting ad-hoc network withother devices. Conversely, when optical narrowcasting is disabled, themobile device's OTA and/or ORA may not transmit/receive modulatedoptical beams and may be powered off to conserve battery life. In theexample of FIG. 36A, optical narrowcasting is enabled. As such, themobile device is configured to transmit a modulated optical beacon thatmakes the device discoverable (e.g., as “John's Phone”) by other devicesequipped with an ORA. For example, an OTA of the mobile device maytransmit a beacon, including mobile device identifying information,within a certain angular region.

The example graphical user interface 3600 also displays a list of storedtrusted devices 3620 that includes devices with which the mobile devicehas previously established an optical narrowcasting ad-hoc network. Inthis manner, graphical user interface 3600 may permit a user of themobile device to specify trusted devices with which to automaticallyform ad-hoc networks. For example, if the mobile device's ORA receives abeacon from a device on the trusted device list, an ad-hoc network maybe automatically established. The trusted device list may also displayan indication of which trusted devices are currently connected to themobile device and other information associated with trusted (oruntrusted) devices. For example, in FIG. 36A a trusted device identifiedas “John's Home Tx” is currently connected to the mobile device via anoptical narrowcasting ad-hoc network.

As another example, the trusted device list may display a short visualindication of a trusted device's position relative to the mobile device(e.g., distance and absolute orientation in a north-east-south-westplane). This visual indication of the trusted device's position may besupplemented by, for example, an AR representation of the device'sposition relative to the mobile device's ORA FOV, a navigational mapinterface showing the trusted device's position, or some otherindication. This visual indication may be particularly useful in thecase of fixed devices such as Internet gateway devices. The visualindication may provide a quick means of locating the device andestablishing optical narrowcasting ad-hoc networks such as connectionsto optical narrowcasting hotspots that provide access to an RF network.

The graphical user interface 3600 also displays a list of other devices3630 that are not on a trusted device list. For example, this mayinclude devices with which the mobile device has not previously formedan optical narrowcasting ad-hoc network, devices that were not added toa trusted device list after forming an optical narrowcasting ad-hocnetwork, or devices with which the user does not wish to form an opticalnarrowcasting ad-hoc network. In the example of FIG. 36A, a beacon isreceived from a device identified as a “Dan's Phone”, a device withwhich the mobile has not previously formed an ad-hoc network.

With reference now to FIG. 36B, the device identified as “Dan's Phone”may send an optical signal or other modulated optical beam including arequest to form an ad-hoc network. The optical signal may be received atan ORA of the mobile device, which demodulates the beam, and causesgraphical user interface 3600 to display to the user a prompt that“Dan's Phone” would like form an ad-hoc network. In the example of FIG.36B, a user of the device may either accept the request and form anad-hoc network, deny the request, or block future communications withthe device (e.g., ignore future optical signals received from thedevice).

With reference now to FIG. 36C, assuming the mobile device accepts therequest from “Dan's Phone” to form an optical narrowcasting ad-hocnetwork, the graphical user interface may present options to the userfor configuring communications between the user's mobile device and“Dan's Phone” over the optical narrowcasting ad-hoc network. In theexample of FIG. 36C, the user is presented with a control 3640 foradding “Dan's Phone” to the trusted device list and controls 3650 forsetting permitted optical narrowcasting ad-hoc network communicationsbetween the user's device and Dan's Phone. For example, permissions maybe set for initiating voice and/or video calls over the opticalnarrowcasting ad-hoc network (e.g., “Opti Call”), sending text messagesover the optical narrowcasting ad-hoc network (e.g., “Opti Text”),transferring document, video, audio, or other files over the opticalnarrowcasting ad-hoc network (“File Transfer”), communicating usingparticular applications installed on the mobile device (e.g., “App1” and“App2”), or other permissions. Additionally, using a permission control3650, a user of the mobile device may choose whether to allow “Dan'sPhone” to use the user's device as an optical narrowcasting hotspot(e.g., “tethering”) that provides a gateway to an RF connection (e.g.,an Internet gateway).

FIG. 37 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method 3700 that maybe implemented by a device (e.g., device 3510B) to create or extend anRF network using an optical narrowcasting ad hoc network. The devicecreating or extending the RF network may i) utilize a connection to anRF network to retrieve information requested by another device over anoptical narrowcasting ad-hoc network; and ii) send the informationretrieved over the RF network back to the requesting device over theoptical ad-hoc network (e.g., using an optical signal).

At operation 3710, the device is enabled as an optical narrowcastinghotspot. For example, a user of mobile device 3510B, may use a GUI(e.g., similar to GUI described with reference to FIGS. 36A-36C) toselect a control that authorizes the device to share its RF connection(e.g., a connection to the Internet) over an ad-hoc opticalnarrowcasting network. As another example, a user may deploy a fixedInternet gateway device at a residence, remote location, or otherlocation to extend or create access to the Internet to devices that donot otherwise have access to RF networks. In this example, a user mayconfigure the fixed Internet gateway device in advance such that onlytrusted devices and/or devices having a private encryption key mayaccess the gateway's Internet connection over the optical narrowcastingad-hoc network.

At operation 3720, the device uses an OTA to broadcast a beacon or othermodulated optical beam identifying the device as an opticalnarrowcasting hotspot source. In implementations, the beacon may bebroadcast over a fixed angular region. For example, the beacon may bebroadcast in a same angular region as the optical narrowcasting hotpotsource broadcasts an optical signal or other modulated optical beamcarrying information retrieved over an RF network. In someimplementations, multiple beacons may be broadcast to increase theangular region of the signal. Alternatively, in some implementations thebeacon may be swept over a horizontal and/or vertical angular direction(e.g., using one or more tilt actuators of an OTA) to increase theprobability of a device receiving the beacon identifying the opticalnarrowcasting hotspot source.

At operation 3730, the device receives at an ORA a modulated opticalbeam from a device requesting access the optical narrowcasting hotspotsource. In implementations, the requesting device may transmit anoptical beacon identifying the device and an optical signal requestingaccess to the optical narrowcasting hotspot. As previously noted, theoptical beacon and optical signal may be transmitted on the samemodulated optical beam or separate modulated optical beams.

At decision 3740, it is determined if the device requesting access tothe optical narrowcasting hotspot is a trusted device. For example, thedevice requesting access may transmit a beacon including identifyinginformation (e.g., a unique optical narrowcasting ID) that the opticalnarrowcasting hotspot device compares against a stored trusted devicelist to determine if the device is trusted. As another example, thedevice requesting access may transmit an optical signal including anencryption key or other information that the optical narrowcastinghotspot device may use to determine if the device is trusted. If thedevice is trusted, at operation 3750, the optical narrowcasting hotspotmay permit the device to access the RF network connection of the opticalnarrowcasting hotspot. In some implementations, the opticalnarrowcasting hotspot may transmit an optical signal authenticating orotherwise confirming the connection with the requesting device.

If at decision 3740 the optical narrowcasting hotspot is unable todetermine that the requesting device is trusted, the opticalnarrowcasting hotspot may ignore optical signals from the requestingdevice until the requesting device can establish it is trusted (e.g., bytransmitting a modulated optical beam including a private key).Alternatively, in some implementations all devices that can receivemodulated optical beams from the optical narrowcasting hotspot (e.g.,all devices configured with an ORA having a FOV within the opticalsignal path of the optical narrowcasting hotspot) may be permitted toaccess the optical narrowcasting hotspot. In such implementations,operations 3730-3750 may be skipped.

At operation 3760, the optical narrowcasting hotspot device receives anoptical signal at an ORA from the device permitted to access thehotspot. The optical signal, in implementations, is a modulated opticalbeam including information to be sent over the RF communication networkmade available by the optical narrowcasting hotspot device. Depending onthe destination node and application (e.g., a web browser request) ofthe information to be sent over the RF communication network, theinformation carried by the optical beam may be encapsulated by therequesting device using suitable headers and trailers.

At operation 3770, the optical narrowcasting hotspot device may extractthe information from the optical signal (e.g., using the systems andmethods disclosed herein for demodulating and otherwise receiving amodulated optical beam). The information may then be transmitted overthe RF network to a node using an RF connection interface of the device(e.g., by modulating the information onto an RF carrier signal). Forexample, with reference to the example of FIG. 35, optical narrowcastinghotspot device 3510B may receive an optical beam 3530 from device 3510A,extract information intended for RF communication network 3550 from theoptical beam, encapsulate and/or remodulate the information inpreparation for transmission over RF communication network 3550, andtransmit the information over RF communication network 3550.

At operation 3780, in response to transmitting the information over theRF communication network, the optical narrowcasting hotspot devicereceives a response (e.g., a modulated RF signal including information.)At operation 3790, the information retrieved over the RF network ismodulated onto an optical signal and transmitted by the hotspot's OTA toan ORA of the requesting device (e.g., using the systems and methodsdisclosed herein for modulating and otherwise transmitting a modulatedoptical beam).

FIG. 38 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method 3800 that maybe implemented by a device (e.g., device 3510A) to access an RF networkover an optical narrowcasting ad hoc network. In various embodiments,the device implementing method 3800 may be a device without access to anRF network (e.g., a smartphone without cellular coverage or WiFi access)or a device that is not enabled to transmit information over an RFnetwork (e.g., a mobile device that does not have a cellular or WiFichipset). At operation 3810, the device detects at an ORA a beaconbroadcast by an optical narrowcasting hotspot that provides access to anRF network. In implementations where the device has previously storedthe location of the hotspot in memory, detection of the beacon may befacilitated by a GUI of an application that directs a user of the deviceto the absolute direction of the beacon relative to the FOV of thedevice's ORA and/or camera. At operation 3820, the device may transmit amodulated optical beam to the hotspot requesting access to the opticalnarrowcasting hotspot. For example, the device may transmit an opticalbeacon followed by an optical signal requesting access to the opticalnarrowcasting hotspot. In embodiments, the device may confirm that it istrusted device and otherwise establish a secure connection as discussedabove with reference to method 3700.

At operation 3830, the device may modulate information to be transmittedover the hotspot's RF network connection onto an optical signal. Atoperation 3840, the device's OTA may transmit to the hotspot's ORA, themodulated optical beam, including the information to be transmitted overthe hotspot's RF network connection. At operation 3850, the devicereceives at an ORA a modulated optical signal from an OTA of the hotspotincluding information retrieved over the RF network by the hotspot.

In various embodiments, a computing system may be configured to providegraphical user interfaces (GUIs) for optical narrowcasting in accordancewith the present disclosure. For example, GUIs may be provided forpresenting and selecting OTAs and/or sources of OTAs, informationextracted from modulated optical beams produced by the OTAs, andgraphical representations thereof. In some embodiments, for sake ofillustrative clarity, reference to an OTA may refer to a physical OTAand/or graphical representation thereof.

As used herein to describe a UI or GUI, the term “user input” generallyrefers to any user action that generates data that triggers one or moreactions at the UI (e.g., the retrieval of optical signal information,the display of optical signal information, the selection of graphicalcontrols, the movement of an ORA, etc.). A user input may include, forexample, a touch user interface gesture (e.g., taps, holds, swipes,pinches, etc.), vocal input (e.g., voice commands that are digitized andtranslated into a corresponding action), a keyboard input (e.g.,pressing a keyboard key), a mouse input (e.g., clicking and/or moving amouse pointer), and the like. User input may include a sequence ofinputs, such as a particular sequence of touch gestures, voice commands,and/or key presses. User input may select, modify, or otherwisemanipulate a displayed graphical control element such as, for example,buttons, checkboxes, menus, windows, sliders, navigational controlelements, and the like.

FIG. 39 depicts a block diagram 3900 of an example of an OTApresentation and selection system (or, “presentation and selectionsystem”) 3902 according to some embodiments. In implementations, thecomponents of presentation and selection system 3902 may comprisecomponents of one or more software applications that are provided to amobile device (e.g., a smartphone, laptop, an augmented reality devicesuch as a head mounted display), a computing device of a vehicle (e.g.,an automobile), or some other user device. In some instances thesecomponents may be integrated into one or more applications. For sake ofillustrative clarity, as used herein, reference to a user device mayalso include other devices and systems associated with the user device(e.g., an ORA coupled or integrated into the user device). Depending onthe implementation, the software applications may be executed locally bythe device (e.g. as a native application or third-party application), ormay be provided as a part of a web application or cloud applicationservice.

In the example of FIG. 39, the presentation and selection system 3902includes a device interface engine 3904, an optical receiver interfaceengine 3906, a location engine 3908, an augmented reality control engine3910, a filtering engine 3912, a third-party interface engine 3914, anotification engine 3916, a context-aware OTA sensing engine 3918, asignal information enhancement engine 3920, a graphical user interfaceengine 3922, and a datastore 3924.

The device interface engine 3904 facilitates interaction between thepresentation and selection system 3902 and one or more associated userdevices. For example, user devices may include mobile devices (e.g.,smartphones, cell phones, smartwatches, head mounted displays, tabletcomputers, or laptop computers), computing devices of vehicles such asautomobiles (e.g., on-board automobile computing devices and sensors),and the like. In some embodiments, the device interface engine 3904 mayaccess or otherwise control functionality of content capture devices(e.g., cameras and microphones), presentation devices (e.g., displaysand speakers) and sensors (e.g., location and orientation sensors) ofone or more user devices. The device interface engine 3904 may includeone or more application programming interfaces (APIs) or communicationprotocols for interacting with user devices.

The optical receiver interface engine 3906 facilitates interactionbetween the presentation and selection system 3902 and one or more ORAs.For example, the optical receiver interface engine 3906 may access anORA included in, or coupled to, the user device. The optical receiverinterface engine 3906 may utilize one or more APIs or communicationprotocols for interacting with any number of ORAs, simultaneously orotherwise.

In some embodiments, the optical receiver interface engine 3906 obtainsoptical information (e.g., identification data and descriptive data)from one or more ORAs. The optical receiver interface engine 3906 mayobtain optical information automatically (e.g., without requiring userinput) or manually (e.g., in response to user input). For example, theoptical receiver interface engine 3906 may automatically obtain opticalinformation from an ORA once it begins extracting optical informationfrom a received modulated optical beam or after the ORA finishesextracting all optical information from a received modulated opticalbeam.

In some embodiments, the optical receiver interface engine 3906 storesoptical information. For example, the optical receiver interface engine3906 may persistently store or temporarily store (e.g., cache or buffer)optical information in a datastore (e.g., datastore 3924). This mayallow the presentation and selection system 3902 to access opticalinformation after an OTA's modulated optical beam is no longer withinthe FOV of an OBR or OSR of an ORA. In some embodiments, rules maydefine conditions for determining when to store optical information,what optical information to store, an amount of time to store opticalinformation, when to purge stored optical information, and otherconditions for storing received optical information. For example, therules may define that optical information may be stored for a thresholdnumber of OTAs. For example, a FIFO structure may store opticalinformation for twenty OTAs, and as optical information is stored foradditional OTAs, the optical information associated with the first-inOTA may be purged.

In some embodiments, the optical information rules define a geographicproximity condition for storing optical information. For example, if anORA or associated user device is within a threshold geographic proximity(e.g., 1 km) of an OTA, or a location the optical information wasreceived, the optical information may be stored. As follows, if the userdevice exceeds the geographic proximity, the optical information may bepurged. This may help ensure, for example, that stored opticalinformation is current, and that resources (e.g., memory) are notunnecessarily consumed.

The location engine 3908 functions to determine a location of an ORA, orassociated user device, relative to one or more OTAs. In someembodiments, the location engine 3908 may determine the relativelocation from a current location and orientation of the user device(e.g., as indicated by one or more sensors of the user device) and acurrent location and orientation of an OTA. As the user device changeslocation (e.g., user operating the user device is walking) ororientation (e.g., a user tilts or rotates the user device), thelocation engine 3908 may update the relative location between the userdevice and the OTA.

In the example of FIG. 39, the augmented reality control engine 3910functions to provide augmented reality features for presenting,selecting and otherwise interacting with OTAs and optical information.The augmented reality control engine 3910 may receive user input, andotherwise control augmented reality features of the presentation andselection system 3902. For example, augmented reality actions mayinclude selecting an augmented reality object, generating a request foroptical information associated with a selected augmented reality object,and removing augmented reality objects.

In some embodiments, the augmented reality control engine 3910 maycapture content (e.g., images, pictures, video, or audio) and overlayaugmented reality objects on the content at the same, or substantiallysame, time as the content is being captured. Augmented reality objectsmay include visual objects (e.g., graphics, icons, text, images,pictures, or video), audio objects (e.g., songs or other audio tracks),and metadata objects, such as URI links (e.g., hyperlinks) orinstructions to execute one or more third-party systems (e.g., webbrowser or mobile application). In some embodiments, augmented realityobjects may represent OTAs or a source of an OTA. For example, anaugmented reality object representing an OTA may comprise an iconrepresenting an OTA, text and images representing optical information,and the like.

In some embodiments, the augmented reality control engine 3910 renders afield-of-view (FOV) augmented reality object that provides a visualrepresentation of the boundaries of a FOV in which optical receivers(e.g., an OBR and/or an OSR) associated with an ORA may receivemodulated optical beams. For example, the FOV augmented reality objectmay be visually rendered as a square, rectangle, circle, or othergeometric object. If a visual representation of an OTA or source of anOTA is within the boundaries of the FOV augmented reality object, anoptical receiver of an ORA may be able to receive optical informationfrom the visually represented OTA because at least a portion of amodulated optical beam transmitted by the OTA is within the opticalreceiver's FOV. Conversely, if the visual representation of the OTA isoutside of the FOV boundaries, the ORA may be moved (e.g., by tiltactuators and/or user movement of the user device) so that the visualrepresentation of the OTA is within the boundaries of the FOV augmentedreality object. In some embodiments, the FOV augmented reality object isscalable and/or maintains a relative location on a display (e.g., acentered location). For example, as a user zooms in or zooms out, theFOV augmented reality object can change sizes, and when a user pans in adirection (e.g., left or right), the field-of-view augmented realityobject may maintain the same relative location on the display.

In some embodiments, some or all augmented reality objects areinteractive. For example, the augmented reality control engine 3910 mayselect an augmented reality object in response to user input, andperform one or more actions in response to the selection. For example,selection of an augmented reality object such as a visual representationof an OTA or source of an OTA may trigger the presentation of opticalinformation received from the OTA.

The filtering engine 3912 functions to select or remove (or,collectively, “filter”) one or more subsets of OTAs from a set of OTAs.The filtering engine 3912 may filter OTAs based on one or more filterparameters and corresponding tags associated with a modulated opticalbeam. Filter parameters and tags may indicate a source of an OTA (e.g.,a location), one or more entities associated with an OTA (e.g., name orother identifier of a person, company or organization), one or morecategories associated with an OTA (e.g., merchant, music venue, or realestate agent), and one or more subcategories associated with an OTA(e.g., jewelry merchant, or residential real estate agent). Filterparameters and tags may be predetermined or user defined. In someembodiments, a tag may be included in optical information (e.g., aheader of the optical information of a beacon signal). The filteringengine 3912 may match, or otherwise compare, filter parameters and tagsto filter OTAs.

In the example of FIG. 39, the third-party interface engine 3914functions to facilitate interaction between the presentation andselection system 3902 and one or more third-party systems. Thethird-party systems may include mobile application systems (e.g., GoogleMaps®), social media systems (e.g., Facebook® or Twitter®), and thelike, and they may comprise local or remote systems. For example, thethird-party interface engine 3914 may present visual indicators of OTAson a map generated by a third party system, and allow users to selectand otherwise interact with OTAs using the third party system. In someembodiments, the third-party interface engine 3914 comprises one or moreAPIs or communication protocols.

In the example of FIG. 39, the notification engine 3916 functions togenerate and provide messages or alerts associated with OTAs. Forexample, the notification engine 3916 may trigger notification messagesin response to satisfaction of one or more notification triggerconditions or based on notification parameters. Notification triggerconditions may include detection of OTAs, signal strength or signalquality, OTA connection status, and the like, and may be predeterminedor user defined. The messages may be provided to a user through acomponent of the presentation and selection system 3902 and/or the userdevice, and the messages may comprise augmented reality objects or othervisual indicators, sounds, or haptics.

In some embodiments, the notification engine 3916 functions to provideindicators for orientating an OTA and/or user device. For example, thenotification engine 3916 may generate visual indicators (e.g., graphicalarrows) or audio indicators (e.g., speech instructions) for orienting anORA relative to an OTA in order to receive a modulated optical beam orimprove a strength and/or quality of a modulated optical beam. Theindicators may be generated in response to user input (e.g., a userrequesting orientation instructions) or automatically (e.g., aconnection drops, or signal strength and/or quality falls below athreshold value).

In the example of FIG. 39, the context-aware OTA sensing engine 3918functions to recommend OTAs. In some embodiments, the context-aware OTAsensing engine 3918 detects whether an OTA may be of interest to a user.For example, ten OTAs may be available at a particular location, and thecontext-aware OTA sensing engine 3918 may categorize each available OTAbased on a predicted interest level of a user (e.g., low, medium, orhigh). The context-aware OTA sensing engine 3918 may select which OTAsmay be presented based on the interest level. For example, thecontext-aware OTA sensing engine 3918 may select medium and highinterest level OTAs for display, and ignore low interest level OTAs.This may help ensure, for example, that users are not unnecessarilyinundated with information received from OTA.

In some embodiments, the context-aware OTA sensing engine 3918 maygenerate an OTA interest vector for some or all available OTAs. As usedherein, available OTAs may include OTAs currently transmitting to anORA, OTAs currently capable of transmitting to an ORA, OTAs capable oftransmitting to an ORA with limited location or orientation change,and/or OTAs with available stored (e.g., cached) optical information.The interest vector may include an OTA identifier and a history ofprevious user interactions. The interest vectors may be compared witheach other or a threshold value to determine OTAs to present to a userand/or determine OTAs to emphasize to a user. For example, if aninterest vector indicates that an associated user has previouslyinteracted with a particular OTA, or OTAs transmitting particularcategories or subcategories of signal information (e.g., merchant,jewelry merchant, and the like), a threshold number of times orfrequency, the context-aware OTA sensing engine 3918 may categorize apredicted interest level as “high”. Similarly, if an interest vectorindicates user interaction below a particular threshold, thecontext-aware OTA sensing engine 3918 may categorize a predictedinterest level as “low”.

In the example of FIG. 39, the optical information enhancement engine3920 functions to provide enhanced signal information. As used herein,enhanced signal information may include enhanced signal informationobtained from a supplemental communication connection (e.g., WiFi). Asused herein, a supplemental communication connection may be anycommunication connection other than the communication connectionproviding the optical information. For example, enhanced signalinformation may include a detailed description of an entity's business,videos, pictures, online retail features, and the like. This may allow,for example, additional information to be provided that may not bereasonably transmitted through a modulated optical beam. In someembodiments, the signal information enhancement engine 3920 mayautomatically detect and/or access supplemental communicationconnections, and/or automatically obtain enhanced signal informationupon accessing a supplemental communication connection.

The graphical user interface engine 3922 functions to provide agraphical user interface for presenting, selecting, and otherwiseinteracting with one or more OTAs. For example, the graphical userinterface engine 3922 may be implemented as a mobile application,desktop application, web application, or the like. In some embodiments,the graphical user interface engine 3922 provides functionality forinteracting with OTAs as described elsewhere herein, albeit in anon-augmented reality environment. For example, the graphical userinterface engine 3922 may present a list of available OTAs (e.g., afiltered or non-filtered list), receive user selections regarding OTAs,present optical information from selected OTAs, present notifications,present enhanced signal information, and so forth.

The datastore 3924 functions to store data persistently and/ortemporarily. For example, the datastore 3924 may store communicationsreceived from other systems, optical and enhanced signal information,rules, and filters.

FIG. 40 depicts a flowchart 4000 of an example method for presentinggraphical representations of OTAs according to some embodiments. Atoperation 4002, a presentation and selection system (e.g., presentationand selection system 3902) obtains content of an environment, such as anurban or other environment within a field-of-view of one or more camerasof a user device (e.g., a mobile device camera or an automobile camera).For example, the content may be obtained in real-time (e.g., at thesame, or substantially same, time as the content is being captured). Insome embodiments, a device interface engine (e.g., device interfaceengine 3904) obtains the content.

At operation 4004, the presentation and selection system obtains opticalinformation associated with one or more OTAs. In some embodiments, anoptical receiver interface engine (e.g., optical receiver interfaceengine 3906) obtains the optical information.

At operation 4006, the presentation and selection system stores theoptical information at least temporarily. For example, the presentationand selection system may cache the optical information in a datastore(e.g., datastore 3924) and/or persistently store the optical informationin a datastore (e.g., datastore 3924). In some embodiments, thepresentation and selection system stores the optical information basedon one or more optical information rules.

At operation 4008, the presentation and selection system identifies oneor more available OTAs. In some embodiments, the optical receiverinterface engine identifies the one or more available OTAs. In variousembodiments, a filtering engine (e.g., filtering engine 3912) may filterthe one or more available OTAs. For example, ten OTAs may be available,although only five OTAs may be of interest to the user. The filteringengine may filter the available OTAs such that only the OTAs of interestto the user are identified. Example filtering methods are discussedfurther below.

At operation 4010, the presentation and selection system presents one ormore graphical representations of the one or more available OTAs. Insome embodiments an augmented reality control engine (e.g., augmentedreality control engine 3910), a third-party interface engine (e.g.,third-party interface engine 3914), or a graphical user interface engine(e.g., graphical user interface engine 3922) presents the graphicalrepresentations. For example, the augmented reality control engine maygenerate one or more augmented reality objects representing at least aportion of the available OTAs, and overlay the one or more augmentedreality objects on the content. By way of further example, thethird-party interface engine may generate and overall one or moregraphical icons on a third-party system (e.g., Google Maps®) indicatinglocations of the corresponding OTAs. By way of further example, thegraphical user interface engine may present a list of the availableOTAs.

At operation 4012, the presentation and selection system graphicallyrenders a representation of the one or more OTAs. In some embodiments,the augmented reality control engine, the third-party interface engine,and/or the graphical user interface engine renders the graphicalrepresentation in response to user input.

At operation 4014, the presentation and selection system presentsadditional optical information in response to the selection. Forexample, the additional information may include additionalidentification data, additional descriptive data, and the like. Invarious embodiments, the augmented reality control engine, thethird-party interface engine, or the graphical user interface enginepresents the particular graphical representation.

FIG. 41 depicts a flowchart 4100 of an example of a method for filteringOTAs or representations thereof according to some embodiments.

At operation 4102, a presentation and selection system (e.g.,presentation and selection system 3902) obtains a set of filterparameters. The set of filter parameters may correspond to OTAparameters (e.g., source, category, sub-category, and the like). Filterparameters may be obtained in real-time (e.g., at the same time, orsubstantially same time, an associated user device is capturing contentof an environment) or otherwise. In some embodiments, a filtering engine(e.g., filtering engine 3912) obtains the set of filter parametersautomatically (e.g., based on predetermined filter rules) or based onuser input received by an augmented reality control engine (e.g.,augmented reality control engine 3910) or a graphical user interfaceengine (e.g., graphical user interface engine 3922).

At operation 4104, the presentation and selection system identifies aset of available OTAs. For example, the presentation and selectionsystem may identify the set of available OTAs based on one or more tagsor other optical information of one or more beacon signals. The one ormore tags and/or other optical information of the one or more beaconsignals may be “active” (e.g., currently being received by an associatedORA) and/or stored (e.g., cached or persistently stored). Accordingly,an available OTA may be an OTA transmitting, or capable of transmitting,a modulated optical beam to an associated ORA, and/or an OTA that is notcurrently transmitting, or currently unable to transmit, to anassociated ORA. In some embodiments, the filtering engine identifies theset of available OTAs.

At operation 4106, the presentation and selection system filters asubset of OTAs from the set of available OTAs based on the set of filterparameters. The subset of OTAs may indicate which, if any, of theavailable OTAs to present. In various embodiments, the presentation andselection system filters the subset of OTAs from the set of availableOTAs based on the set of filter parameters and one or more correspondingtags of a modulated optical beam. For example, if a source of amodulated optical beam matches a corresponding source parameter of theset of filter parameters, the OTA associated with that modulated opticalbeam may be filtered. Similarly, if the set of filter parametersindicates that a first particular category (e.g., real estate) is ofinterest to a user, while a second particular category (e.g., jewelry)is not of interest to the user, the set of available OTAs may befiltered such that the subset of OTAs includes OTAs associated with thefirst particular category, and does not include OTAs associated with thesecond particular category. Filtering may be performed based on anynumber of filter parameters, and may indicate parameters of interest toa user and/or not of interest to a user. In some embodiments, thefiltering engine filters the one or more subsets of OTAs.

In various embodiments, physical OTAs, as well as graphicalrepresentations thereof, may be filtered. More specifically, the userdevice and/or associated ORA(s) may deny (e.g., ignore) transmissionsfrom OTAs based on the set of filter parameters. For example, a firstoptical beam from a particular OTA may include one or more tagsindicating parameters of the OTA (e.g., source, category, sub-category,and the like). Based on the set of filter parameters, the user deviceand/or associated ORA(s) may deny subsequent transmissions theparticular OTA. For example, subsequent transmissions may be denied fora particular period of time (e.g., an hour, a day, a month, and soforth) for the particular OTA.

In various embodiments, filtering may be based on context and/orpredicted interest level(s) for a user with respect to available OTAs.Filtering based on context may be performed by the filtering engineand/or a context-aware OTA sensing engine (e.g., context-aware OTAsensing engine 3918). An example filtering method based on context isdiscussed below.

At operation 4108, the presentation and selection system presentsgraphical representations of one or more OTAs of the set of availableOTAs based on the filtering. For example, the presentation and selectionsystem may present the subset of OTAs. It will be appreciated that insome examples, the filtering may indicate that none of the availableOTAs are to be presented to a user. In some embodiments, the augmentedreality control engine or the graphical user interface engine presentsthe graphical representations.

FIG. 42 depicts a flowchart 4200 of an example of a method for providingnotifications according to some embodiments.

At operation 4202, a presentation and selection system (e.g.,presentation and selection system 3902) obtains notification parameters.For example, the notifications parameters may comprise filterparameters, or other notification parameters. In some embodiments, anotification engine (e.g., notification engine 3916) obtains thenotification parameters.

At operation 4204, the presentation and selection system identifies aset of available OTAs. In some embodiments, the notification engineidentifies the set of available OTAs.

At operation 4206, the presentation and selection system identifies asubset of OTAs from the set of available OTAs based on the notificationparameters. In some embodiments, the notification engine performs thedetermination.

At operation 4208, one or more notification messages are providedregarding the identified OTAs. For example, a notification message mayindicate the set of available OTAs, or the subset of available OTAs. Insome embodiments, the notification engine provides the one or morenotification messages to a user through an augmented reality controlengine (e.g., augmented reality control engine 3910), a third-partyinterface engine (e.g., third-party interface engine 3914), or agraphical user interface engine (e.g., graphical user interface engine3922).

FIG. 43 depicts a flowchart 4300 of an example of a method forpredicting one or more OTAs that may be of interest to a user accordingto some embodiments.

At operation 4302, a presentation and selection system (e.g.,presentation and selection system 3902) obtains a history of prior useractions. In some embodiments, a context-aware OTA sensing engine (e.g.,context-aware OTA sensing engine 3918) identifies the subset of OTAs.

At operation 4304, the presentation and selection system identifies aset of available OTAs. In some embodiments, the context-aware OTAsensing engine identifies the set of available OTAs.

At operation 4306, the presentation and selection system identifies asubset of OTAs from the available OTAs based on the history of prioractions. In some embodiments, the context-aware OTA sensing engineidentifies the subset of OTAs.

At operation 4308, the presentation and selection system presents anenhanced graphical representation for at least a portion of the subsetof OTAs. For example, enhanced graphical representations can includemodified colors, sizes, and/or shapes. In some embodiments, an augmentedreality control engine (e.g., augmented reality control engine 3910),third-party interface engine 3914, or graphical user interface engine3922 provides the enhanced graphical representations.

FIG. 44 depicts a flowchart 4400 of an example of a method for enhancingsignal information using a supplemental communication connection (e.g.,WiFi) according to some embodiments.

At operation 4402, a presentation and selection system (e.g.,presentation and selection system 3902) obtains optical informationassociated with a set of available OTAs. In some embodiments, an opticalreceiver interface engine (e.g., optical receiver interface engine 3906)obtains the optical information.

At operation 4404, the presentation and selection system presents theoptical information. In some embodiments an augmented reality controlengine (e.g., augmented reality control engine 3910), a third-partyinterface engine (e.g., third-party interface engine 3914), or agraphical user interface engine (e.g., graphical user interface engine3922) provides the graphical representations.

At operation 4406, the presentation and selection system determineswhether a supplemental connection is available. In some embodiments, asignal information enhancement engine (e.g., signal enhancement engine3920) determines available supplemental connections.

At operation 4408, the presentation and selection system obtainsenhanced information using the supplemental connection, if such asupplemental connection is available. Otherwise, the method mayterminate, or wait for a supplemental connection to become available. Insome embodiments, the signal information enhancement engine obtains theenhanced information if the supplemental connection is available, orwaits for a supplemental connection to become available.

At operation 4410, the presentation and selection system enhances thegraphical representation with the enhanced information. In someembodiments, the augmented reality control engine, the third-partyinterface engine, or the graphical user interface engine enhances thegraphical representations with the enhanced information obtained by thesignal information enhancement engine.

FIG. 45 depicts a block diagram of an example optical narrowcastingmobile device 4500 configured to provide GUIs for optical narrowcastingin accordance with the disclosure. The GUIs may be provided byinitializing one or more optical narrowcasting applications 4575 ofmobile device 4500. The one or more optical narrowcasting applications4575 may include one or more components of the presentation andselection system 3902 discussed above. In some instances, the opticalnarrowcasting applications 4575 may be implemented as a component ofanother application available on the mobile device. For example, in oneembodiment, an optical narrowcasting application 4575 may be providedthrough a camera application initialized by the mobile device.

Mobile device 4500 includes optical receiver assembly 4510, opticaltransmitter assembly 4520, motion sensor 4530, position determinationdevice 4540, display 4550, camera 4560, storage 4570, and processingmodules 4580.

As illustrated in the example of FIG. 45, ORA 4510 and OTA 4520 areintegrated into mobile device 4500 (e.g., inside the casing of mobiledevice 4500). However, in alternative implementations ORA 4510 and/orOTA 4520 may instead be communicatively coupled to mobile device 4500(e.g., using a smartphone case with a built-in ORA). Additionally, inthe example of FIG. 45, camera 4560 is a separate component from ORA4510. However, as discussed with reference to FIGS. 25-26A, in someinstances camera 4560 may be utilized as an ORA to receive opticalbeacons and/or optical signals. In such implementations, camera 4560 maybe used in place of or in addition to ORA 4510. Example implementationsof ORA 4510 and OTA 4520 are described in greater detail with referenceto FIGS. 8-34.

Storage 4570 may include non-volatile memory (e.g., flash storage),volatile memory (e.g. RAM), or some combination thereof. In the exampleof FIG. 45, storage 4570 stores an optical narrowcasting application4575, that when executed by a processing module 4580 (e.g., a digitalsignal processor), provides an optical narrowcasting GUI on display 4550(e.g., a touchscreen display of a smartphone or a head mounted display).Additionally, storage 4570 may store information retrieved or created byusing optical narrowcasting application 4575. For example, storage 4570may store application settings (e.g., filters, notifications, OTA/ORAsettings), information extracted from optical beacons and opticalsignals, and other information.

Motion sensor 4530 generates electronic input signals representative ofthe orientation of mobile 4500. These electronic input signals may bereceived and processed by circuitry of processing modules 4580 todetermine a relative orientation of mobile device 4500 (e.g., anorientation in the north-east-south-west (NESW) and up-down planes). Inembodiments, motion sensor 4530 may include one or more gyroscopes,accelerometers, and magnetometers.

Position determination device 4540 includes a device for retrievinggeographical positional information over an RF communication medium. Forexample, position determination device 4540 may include a cellularreceiver, a global positioning system receiver, a network interfacecard, an altimeter, or some combination thereof. The positionalinformation retrieved by device 4540 may be processed by processingmodules 4580 to determine the geographical coordinates of mobile device4500. For example, a GPS receiver may acquires time signals from threeor more satellites and determine mobile device 4500's position usingthree-dimensional trilateration. As another example, the geographicalcoordinates of mobile device 4500 may be determined relative to one ormore WiFi access points using fingerprinting, received signal strengthindication (RSSI), angle of arrival (AoA), time of flight (ToF) or othertechniques known in the art.

As further described below, the determined orientation (e.g., absoluteorientation in an NESW direction) and geographical position (e.g.,geographical coordinates) of mobile device 4500 may assist in generatingan optical narrowcasting GUI display. For example, a GUI of opticalnarrowcasting application 4575 may render an augmented reality displayof the location of one or more OTAs relative to a FOV of an opticalreceiver of ORA 4510 (e.g., an OBR or OSR) based at least in part on thedetermined orientation and/or geographical position of the mobiledevice.

Camera 4560 captures a video stream of the user's real world environmentthat may be presented on display 4550. In implementations, furtherdescribed below, an optical narrowcasting application 4575 may overlayaugmented reality objects such as FOV augmented reality objects andvisual representations of OTAs over the display of the video streamcaptured by camera 4560.

FIG. 46 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method 4600 ofrendering an AR display of an optical receiver's FOV in accordance withembodiments. FIG. 46 will be described with reference to FIGS. 47A-47B,which illustrate example displays of an AR GUI that may be provided by amobile device 4500 (e.g., a device running an optical narrowcastingapplication 4575).

At operation 4610, an optical narrowcasting application 4575 isinitialized on the mobile device 4500. For example, a user operating asmartphone or tablet device may tap or otherwise touch an iconcorresponding to an optical narrowcasting application. As anotherexample, the optical narrowcasting application may be automaticallyinitialized after the mobile device 4500 is powered on. In someimplementations, the optical narrowcasting application may beinitialized within another application installed on the device. Forinstance, a camera application of mobile device 4500 may include anoption for initializing an optical narrowcasting mode.

At operation 4620, a camera 4560 and ORA 4510 of the mobile device maybe activated (e.g., from a powered off or idle state). In someinstances, camera 4560 and ORA 4510 may be activated in response toinitialization of the optical narrowcasting application. Once activated,camera 4560 may capture a live feed of the user's real-world environmentthat is displayed on a display 4550, and ORA 4510 may receive opticalbeacons and/or optical signals from one or more OTAs.

Following activation of the ORA and camera, at operation 4630 a visualrepresentation of the FOV of an optical receiver of the ORA (e.g., a FOVof an OBR and/or OSR) overlaid over a live display of the camera's FOVis shown on a GUI. FIG. 47A illustrates one such example of an AR GUI4710 showing a FOV AR object 4720 overlaid over a live camera feed. FOVAR object 4720 provides a visual representation of the boundaries of aFOV in which optical receivers (e.g., an OBR and/or an OSR) of ORA 4510receive optical signals. As the FOV of the optical receiver depends onan angular region in which it receives optical beacons or opticalsignals, the displayed FOV AR object 4720 may be sized relative to thedisplayed FOV of the camera. For example, if a 16 ° by 8 ° angularregion is displayed on AR GUI 4710, and the FOV of the optical receiverreceives signals within angular region of 4 ° by 4° , the area of FOV ARobject 4720 may cover ⅛ of the area of the display of AR GUI 4710.

It should be noted that in various embodiments the FOV of the OBR maycoincide with, or may even extend somewhat beyond, the FOV of the camerato facilitate the process of finding beacons. In such embodiments, theFOV AR object 4720 represents a smaller FOV of an OSR as illustrated inFIG. 49A and FIG. 49B. In such implementations, once beacons have beendetected, the smaller field of view of the OSR may be positioned so thatan optical signal can be received by moving and/or tilting the mobiledevice to bring an optical signal transmitted by an OTA within the FOVof the OSR.

In some instances, the boundaries of FOV AR object 4720 may be based onan area of the receiver's FOV that receives optical beacons or opticalsignals at a threshold SNR and/or threshold bit rate. As shown in thisexample, the FOV AR object 4720 is rendered as a square. However,depending on the configuration of the one or more receivers within ORA(e.g., a rectangular array or circular array configuration), in someinstances FOV AR object 4720 may instead be rendered as a rectangle orother polygon, a circle or other ellipse, or some other geometric shape.In other words, FOV AR object 4720 may be rendered as a cross-section ofan angular region in which an optical receiver may receive opticalbeacons or optical signals.

In embodiments, illustrated by FIG. 47A, FOV AR object 4720 is displayedas a semi-transparent object to avoid obstruction of a user's view ofthe live environment and/or other AR objects (e.g., visualrepresentations of OTA). Alternatively, FOV AR object 4720 may bedisplayed as an outline of the receiver's FOV. In yet furtherembodiments, GUI 4710 may provide a control for modifying the appearanceof FOV AR object 4720 or hiding FOV AR object 4720 from view.

In embodiments, FOV AR object 4720 stays fixed to a relative location ofa display 4550 or GUI 4710 (e.g., a centered location as illustrated byFIGS. 47A-47B) as the mobile device (and correspondingly, the ORA) ismoved (i.e., tilted or panned) in different directions. For example, asa user tilts the mobile device in a direction (e.g., left or right), theFOV AR object 4720 maintains the same relative location on the display.

At operation 4640, a camera 4560 of the mobile device is zoomed in orout. In implementations, the camera may be zoomed optically and/ordigitally. As zooming in or out changes the angular region of the user'senvironment that is displayed by GUI 4710, at operation 4650 the visualrepresentation of the FOV of the optical receiver of the ORA (e.g. FOVAR object 4720) is resized. For example, as illustrated in the exampleof FIG. 47B, FOV AR object 4720 is increased in response to the camerazooming in. Conversely, if the camera zoomed out, the size of AR object4720 is decreased.

FIG. 48 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method 4800 ofrendering an AR display of detected OTAs or sources of OTAs inaccordance with embodiments. Prior to initiating method 4800, an opticalnarrowcasting application 4575 may be initiated and an ORA and cameramay be activated as discussed above with reference to method 4600. FIG.48 will be described with reference to FIGS. 49A-49B, which illustrateexample displays of an AR GUI that may be provided by a mobile device4500 (e.g., a device running an optical narrowcasting application 4575).

At operation 4830, a beacon transmitted by an OBT of an OTA is detectedwithin the FOV of an OBR of an ORA 4510. For example, as a user moves amobile device in an environment, optical beacons transmitted by OBTs inthe environment may come into the FOV of the OBR. Upon detection of theoptical beacon, at operation 4840 ORA 4510 may estimate the horizontaland vertical angular positions of the received beacon relative to theOBR's FOV. For example, the angular position of the optical beacon maybe detected by mapping between the horizontal and vertical positionwhere an electrical signal is produced in a detector array of the OBRand the horizontal and vertical angular position within the OBR's FOV ofthe optical beacon that produced an electrical signal.

At operation 4850, ORA 4510 extracts identifying information from thereceived beacon. The identifying information may identify the name ofthe source or entity (e.g., business name, device name, individual name,etc.) associated with the OTA that sent the optical beacon. In someinstances, the identifying information may further identify the categoryand/or type of the source. For example, the identifying information mayspecify whether the source is an individual, business, organization,landmark, product, or object. In the case of businesses, the identifyinginformation may specify, for example, whether the business is arestaurant, a hotel, a department store, a supermarket, a warehousestore, a gas station, a movie theater, etc.

The extracted identifying information may be temporarily cached orpermanently stored in a memory of ORA 4510 and/or another storage ofmobile device 4500 (e.g., storage 4570). Once extracted, the identifyinginformation is made available to an optical narrowcasting application4575.

At operation 4860, the extracted identifying information and estimatedangular positions of the received beacon may be used by opticalnarrowcasting application 4575 to render a visual representation of thebeacon's source overlaid over a live display of the camera's FOV. Thevisual representation, in various implementations, may identify thesource of the beacon (e.g., based on the extracted identifyinginformation) and visually represent the location of the source/OTArelative to the display of the live feed from the camera (e.g., based onthe estimated angular positions of the received beacon). One suchimplementation is illustrated by FIG. 49A, which shows an AR GUIdisplaying an icon or marker 4913 associated with a business (e.g.,“Business A”) transmitting a beacon that was detected by an ORA of themobile device. In this example, icon 4913 is overlaid over a livedisplay of a FOV of the mobile device's camera. The location of icon4913 in this example represents the estimated location of “Business A”relative to the displayed live feed of camera imagery, based on theestimated angular position of the received beacon. For example, as auser moved the mobile device in the urban environment, a beacontransmitted by “Business A” came into the FOV of the OBR of the mobiledevice's ORA (where the FOV of said OBR coincides substantially with theFOV of the mobile device's camera), identifying information wasextracted from the received beacon, and a graphical representation 4913of “Business A” was rendered on the GUI.

In some implementations, the visual representation of the beacon'ssource may include an icon indicating the category or type of source inaddition to the source's name. For example, the icon may indicate if thesource is a restaurant, a hotel, a department store, a supermarket, awarehouse store, a gas station, a movie theater, and the like. In suchinstances, a predetermined set of icons may be used by the opticalnarrowcasting application to represent the different types of entities.

At operation 4870, the mobile device's camera may move (e.g., pan, tilt,or roll) and/or the displayed imagery produced by the camera may bezoomed in or out. In response to the change this produces in the sizeand/or orientation of the camera's FOV, the visual representation of thesource of the beacon may be updated such that its position relative tothe displayed live-feed imagery is always an accurate representation ofthe actual location relative to the real-world scene of the OTA thattransmitted said beacon. In some instances this may be implemented byoverlaying an AR visual layer over the displayed live feed of the cameraoutput. The AR visual layer may store the positions of AR objectsrepresenting beacons relative to each other. As the camera is movedand/or zoomed, AR objects representing beacons may remain “anchored” tothis layer, which is kept properly registered or aligned with thecamera's live-feed imagery as the camera is moved and/or zoomed. In someinstances, the size of the displayed visual representation of the sourcemay be increased as the camera zooms in and decreased as the camerazooms out.

In some embodiments, a motion sensor 4530 may be used to determine themobile device's absolute orientation in the direction of the opticalreceiver's FOV (e.g., in the NESW and up-down planes), and a positiondetermination device 4540 may be used to determine the mobile device'sgeographical position (e.g., latitude, longitude, and altitude) upondetecting a beacon. This additional information, along with the beacon'sestimated angular position, may be stored in memory and used to “map”the relative position of the beacon such that it may be rendered by aGUI of an optical narrowcasting application when the beacon is no longerwithin the FOV of OBR, or even when the optical narrowcastingapplication is closed and reinitialized at a later time.

FIG. 49B illustrates one example of an AR GUI 4710 displaying aplurality of icons 4913-4916 associated with corresponding OTAs/entities(i.e., “Business A”, “Business B”, “Business C”, and “Business D”). Theicons 4913-4916 may have been generated in response to detection ofoptical beacons and are overlaid over a live feed of a mobile device'scamera. In some instances, the information associated with the detectedbeacons may be stored in a persistent storage (e.g., storage 4570) suchthat an OBR of the mobile device's ORA does not need to redetect thebeacons to generate the AR GUI during subsequent application sessions.

As further discussed below, a user may take advantage of these ARrepresentations of sources of beacons along with a FOV AR representationof an OSR to retrieve additional descriptive information associated witheach of the sources of the beacons. For example, a user may tilt amobile device such that icons representing a previously detected opticalbeacon are moved within an FOV AR object, such that the user may selectan icon corresponding to an ORA to initiate receipt of one or moreoptical signals corresponding to the ORA. Such example use cases arefurther described below.

FIG. 50A is a flow diagram illustrating an example GUI method 5000 thatmay be implemented by a mobile device to extract descriptive data (e.g.,information obtained from optical signals) from detected OTAs inaccordance with embodiments. Example GUI method 5000 may be implementedfor example, by running the optical narrowcasting application 4575. Atoperation 5010, a device (e.g., mobile device 4500) receives datacorresponding to user input selecting a visual representation of an OTAsource (e.g., a visual representation previously generated by detectinga beacon transmitted by the OTA source). For example, with reference tothe example of FIG. 49B, a user may tap, touch, or otherwise select theicon 4913 represented by “Business A.”

At decision 5020, it is determined if descriptive information associatedwith the selected OTA source has previously been stored in an availabledata storage. For example, it may be determined if the descriptiveinformation is persistently stored or temporarily cached in a storage4570 or a memory of ORA assembly 4510. This descriptive information mayhave been stored during a prior user session with optical narrowcastingapplication 4575. If the descriptive information is stored, theinformation may be retrieved from storage and presented at operation5070.

On the other hand, if the descriptive information for the OTA source isnot available for retrieval from storage, the mobile device may insteadreceive the data using an OSR of an ORA 4510. As such, at decision 5030it is determined if an optical signal transmitted by the OTA (i.e., anOST) of the source is within the FOV of an OSR of the ORA. It should benoted that in most cases an optical signal associated with an entitywill be transmitted from the same or substantially the same angularposition as a beacon (e.g., the OST and OBT are the same device or areintegrated into the same OTA). For instance, in the example of FIG. 49A,as Business A is within the FOV of an OSR, as represented by AR FOVobject 4720, it may be determined that an optical signal transmitted bythe OTA associated with Business A is within the FOV of the OSR.Conversely, in the example of FIG. 49B, none of the optical signalstransmitted by the represented entities are within the FOV of the OSR.

If the optical signal is not within the FOV of the OSR, at operation5040 a GUI of the optical narrowcasting application may display a promptto the mobile device's user to position (e.g., tilt) the mobile devicesuch that the ORA may receive optical signals transmitted by theselected OTA. For instance, in the example of FIG. 49B, if a userselects “Business A”, the GUI may prompt the user to position the mobiledevice such that icon 4913 is within the FOV of FOV AR object 4720.Additionally, at operation 5040 control electronics and ORA softwareand/or firmware may be used to control the direction from which opticalsignals are received by the OSR by tilting one or more tilt actuatorssuch that the FOV of the OSR falls within the path of the desiredoptical signal.

In some implementations, GUI 4710 may provide a control for zoomingcamera 4560 such that FOV AR object 4720 fits or exceeds the FOV of thecamera 4560. Such a configuration may provide an intuitive way ofdetecting and selecting an OTA within the aforementioned AR GUI as allvisual representations of OTAs/sources of OTAs displayed on the GUI willimmediately be within the OSR's FOV, ready for optical signalacquisition.

At operation 5050, the optical signal is received from the OTA, and atoperation 5060 descriptive information is extracted from the receivedoptical signal. Particular systems and methods for receiving opticalsignals and extracting information from received optical signals aredescribed in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 25-34. The extracteddescriptive information may include a variety of information generatedby the source of the OTA. For example, the extracted information mayinclude source contact information, photographic imagery, videos, text,product listings, advertisements, and other information generated by thesource of the OTA. In some implementations, further described below, thedescriptive information extracted from the detected optical signal maybe stored in a persistent storage for later access.

At operation 5070, the extracted descriptive information is presented tothe user using a GUI of the optical narrowcasting application. Inimplementations, extracted descriptive information may be presentedusing windows, window controls, menus, icons, or some combinationthereof. For example, in cases where different types of descriptiveinformation are extracted (e.g., video information, contact information,shopping information, etc.), the different types of descriptiveinformation may be organized by icons or menu items, that when selected,present a window including the type of selected information. FIG. 50Billustrates one such example of a GUI 4710 displaying descriptive data5095 extracted from an optical signal received from an OTA of an entity.In this example, a user may have selected the icon 4913 corresponding toBusiness A (e.g., by a touch user interface gesture) and positioned FOVAR object 4720 such that an optical signal transmitted by an OST ofBusiness A is within a FOV of the mobile device's OSR. In this example,the descriptive data 5095 extracted from the optical signal is displayedin a window and includes contact information for Business A including aphysical address, phone number, and web address.

Although example method 5000 illustrates an example GUI method throughwhich a user may manually retrieve optical-signal information from OTAsources by selecting the OTA sources, it should be noted that inalternative implementations an optical narrowcasting application 4575may be configured such that optical signal information is automaticallyretrieved for all or a subset of OTAs (e.g., as determined byuser-defined filters) that transmit an optical signal that falls withinthe FOV of the OSR of the mobile device. For example, the opticalnarrowcasting application may present the user with a GUI controller forenabling or disabling automatic retrieval of optical-signal informationas the mobile device is moved around the environment.

In some cases, optical signals may carry descriptive data that takes anon-trivial amount of time to retrieve (e.g., a few seconds, severalseconds, a minute, a few minutes, or longer). For example, opticalsignals may carry high fidelity image data, video data, audio data,documents with large file sizes, or some combination thereof. In suchcases it may be desirable to dynamically present (e.g., stream) dataextracted from an incident optical signal while the ORA receives theoptical signal and extracts remaining data. Additionally, it may bedesirable to provide an indication to the user that data is being“downloaded” or retrieved from an optical signal to ensure that the userkeeps the FOV of a mobile device's OSR in place.

FIG. 51 is a flow diagram illustrating one such example GUI method 5100of dynamically presenting descriptive data extracted from an opticalsignal transmitted by an OTA. FIG. 51 will be described with referenceto FIGS. 52A-52I, which illustrate an example GUI 4710 for implementingmethod 5100. At operation 5110, an optical signal is received at an ORA,and at operation 5120 the ORA begins extracting descriptive data fromthe received optical signal. During receipt of the descriptive data, theGUI may provide a visual indication to the user that data extraction ofan optical signal is currently pending or has completed. For instance,in the example of FIG. 52A a user may position FOV AR object 4720 overicon 4913 and begin retrieving optical signal information transmitted bythe OTA of Business A by selecting a start control 5210 or by tappingicon 4913. During data retrieval, icon 4913 may flash and/or GUI 4710may provide some other visual indication that data is being retrievedfor that specific OTA.

At decision 5130, it is determined if sufficient descriptive data hasbeen extracted for presentation on the GUI. For example, in the casewhere different types of data are extracted (e.g., contact information,video, photographs, etc.), the extracted descriptive data may be readyfor presentation if one type of data (e.g., contact information) hasbeen completely extracted. As another example, video data may be readyfor presentation if a sufficient buffer of video data has been createdsuch that the video data may be streamed.

If sufficient descriptive data has been extracted for presentation, atoperation 5140, one or more icons, markers, or menu items associatedwith the types of extracted descriptive data may be made available forpresentation. For instance, in the example of FIG. 52B, a video iconsignal 5250 (e.g., square with symbol of video camera) is displayed nextto the icon 4913 of the associated Business. In this example, theappearance of the icon may indicate that video data is available forviewing. In some instances, the icon may initially be displayed toindicate the type of data that is being retrieved even before such datais ready for presentation. For example, video icon 5250 may be grayedout until enough video data is available for presentation. As alsoillustrated in the example GUI of FIG. 52B, a user may be presented witha control 5240 (e.g., a save icon) for saving or archiving data that hasalready been received, and a control 5230 (e.g., an exit icon) forpausing or stopping data receipt. Alternatively, all received data maybe automatically archived.

At operation 5150, the mobile device receives data corresponding to userinput selecting an object corresponding to a type of extracteddescriptive data available for presentation. For instance, in theexample of FIG. 52B, a user may tap video icon 5250 or provide someother user input for selecting the video information extracted from theoptical signal transmitted by the OTA of Business A. At operation 5160,the type of extracted descriptive data is presented on the GUI.

By way of example, FIG. 52C illustrates the GUI displaying a window withan advertising video 5251 for Business A that may be presented after auser touches video icon 5250. In this case the video is overlaid on theGUI in a window and begins playing after the user selects a playbackcontrol. During video playback, icon 4913 may continue blinking or theGUI may provide some other indication that data is still being retrievedfrom the optical signal transmitted by an OTA of Business A.

FIG. 52D illustrates the example GUI after all optical signalinformation has been extracted (i.e., data transfer is complete). Inthis example, the user's mobile device may now be repositioned asdesired for comfortable viewing of received data (i.e., it is notnecessary to have icon 4913 within AR FOV object 4720). As illustrated,three more icons appear, indicating the presence of other data that hasbeen received and is ready to be viewed. The icons include astore-information icon 5260, a photo-gallery icon 5270, and a productlisting icon 5280. In this example, a store-information icon 5260 is nowselected. Selection of the icon 5260 brings up a window 5261 showing thestore location, phone number, etc. Additionally, navigational controls5262 (e.g., for closing the window) and 5263 (e.g., for enlarging thewindow) for the window are displayed in this example.

FIG. 52E illustrates the example GUI after user input selecting thephoto-gallery icon 5270. In this example, touching the photo-galleryicon may display a window 5271 including a photo-gallery withnavigational controls 5272 for navigating the photographs of thegallery.

FIG. 52F illustrates the example GUI after user input selecting theproduct listing icon 5280. In this example, touching the product listingicon 5280 may display a window 5281 including a listing of productcategories (e.g., jewelry, fragrances, etc.) and controls for navigatingthe product categories. In this example, window 5281 may providehierarchical navigation of extracted descriptive information usingpointers or other links embedded in the displayed information. FIG. 52Gillustrates the example GUI after user input selecting a fragranceproduct category displayed in window 5281. Selection of the fragranceproduct category updates the window 5281 or generates a new window todisplay information about available fragrances. FIG. 52H illustrates theexample GUI after user input selecting a women's fragrances productcategory. Selection of the women's fragrances product category updatesthe window to display a list of fragrances for women. FIG. 52Iillustrates the example GUI after user input selecting a particularfragrance listed in FIG. 52H. Selection of the fragrance brings upinformation about the product and provides the user with a control forselecting an option for ordering the product from Business A.

As would be appreciated by one having skill in the art, the navigationalcontrols illustrated with reference to FIGS. 52A-52I need not beimplemented in the precise form illustrated therein, and in someinstances other user interface inputs such as touch user interfacegestures and/or voice commands may be used in place of the controls. Forinstance, in the example of photo-galley window 5271, swipe userinterface gestures may be used in place of controls 5272 to navigate thephotograph collection.

As illustrated by the example GUI of FIG. 52I, as part of the process ofpresenting the optical signal information received from an OTA of anentity, the GUI may also present controls for communicating with theentity associated with the OTA (e.g., the “Order” control of FIG. 52I).As such, selection of one or more of these controls may cause the mobiledevice to generate information through the optical narrowcastingapplication that is modulated onto an optical beacon and/or an opticalsignal that is transmitted from the mobile device's OTA to an ORA of theentity.

FIG. 53 is a flow diagram illustrating one such example GUI method 5300of a device communicating with an entity over an optical narrowcastingnetwork in response to user input received at a GUI that presentsoptical signal information received from the entity. At operation 5310,descriptive data extracted from an optical signal received from asource's OTA is presented by an optical narrowcasting GUI. The presenteddescriptive information, in embodiments, may include controls forinitiating a request from the device to the source. The request mayinclude, for example, a request for additional information that was notavailable in the optical signal, a request to order a product, etc. Forexample, with reference to FIG. 52I, the mobile device may initiate anorder request for a product for sale by Business A. At operation 5320,data corresponding to user input selecting the extracted descriptivedata is received. For example, a user may select a control forinitiating a request such as a product order request.

In response to the user input, data requesting additional data from thesource of the OTA may be generated at operation 5330. For example, bycreating a product order request, a mobile device may generate a securetransaction request to be transmitted to an ORA associated with thesource of the OTA. At operation 5340, the generated data may betransferred to an OTA of the mobile device in preparation for outputtingan optical signal to an ORA of the source.

At decision 5350, it is determined if the source's ORA is within thetransmitting path of an optical transmitter of the mobile device. Inimplementations, this decision may be based on the assumption that thesource's ORA is located in the same or substantially the same locationas the source's OTA. If the source's ORA is not within the transmittingpath of the OST, at operation 5360, OTA hardware, software and/orfirmware may be used to control the pointing direction of the opticalsignal output by the OST by tilting one or more tilt actuators.Additionally, at operation 5360 a prompt may be displayed to a user ofthe mobile device to position the mobile device such that the OTA maytransmit optical signals to the source's ORA.

In implementations, a GUI of an optical narrowcasting application of themobile device may display an AR object corresponding to a transmittingemitting region covered by an optical transmitter of the mobile device.The displayed AR object may be displayed in a similar manner asdescribed above with respect to example FOV AR object 4720. Assuming thesource's ORA is located in the same or substantially the same locationas the source's OTA, the GUI may display a prompt to the user toposition the mobile device such that the visual representation of thesource on the GUI is within the AR object corresponding to the opticaltransmitter's emitting region.

At operation 5370, the mobile device transmits the optical signal to thesource's ORA. At operation 5380, the mobile device receives a responseoptical signal from the source's OTA. For example, the mobile device maytransmit an optical signal including a secure transaction request topurchase a product and receive a response optical signal includingconfirmation of the secure transaction request.

In some instances, method 5300 may be implemented by establishing anoptical narrowcasting ad-hoc network between the mobile device and oneor more devices of the entity including an OTA and ORA. Systems andmethods for creating optical narrowcasting ad-hoc network are describedin greater detail in FIGS. 35-38.

FIG. 54 illustrates an example AR optical narrowcasting graphical userinterface 5400 for a shop-window or in-store display that may bepresented by running an optical narrowcasting application on a mobiledevice. In this example, the optical narrowcasting application mayenhance a display of merchandise within a store or at a store window. Asillustrated, a live camera feed is overlaid with icons and text 5401through 5404 representing optically transmitted information associatedwith the displayed merchandise (e.g., glassware, men's watch, etc.). Inthis example, the locations of the overlaid icons correspond to thelocations of OBT with small apertures (e.g., on the order of 1-2 mmdiameter) emitting optical beacons. The icons and text appear to floatin space over the live image and continuously maintain their alignmentwith the image as the mobile device camera is moved. This gives theillusion that the icons and text are part of the live video image.

In the remaining examples, it is assumed that the FOVs of all OBRs andOSRs are all at least as large as the FOV of the camera providing thelive-feed imagery for the AR display of information received fromoptical beacons and optical signals. When this is the case, it is notnecessary to utilize AR objects in the GUI to represent the FOVs of OBRor OSRs (e.g., FOV AR object 4720) for the purpose of indicating to theuser the angular region within which an OTA must be located in order toreceive optical beacons and/or optical signals from it.

As in the examples described above, touching one of the icons on themobile device's display may retrieve additional information from an OSTand bring up additional graphical information and/or text describing themerchandise. For example, touching an icon 5402 representing the men'swatch may render a pop-up box with the price and detailed specificationsof that watch, as well as photos and videos. Additionally, a magnified3D representation of the watch could be overlaid on the live scene. This3D representation could be manipulated using one's fingers on the mobiledevice's touchscreen display to zoom in or out and rotate it to anydesired orientation.

FIGS. 55A-55C illustrates an example augmented reality graphical userinterface 5500 that may be presented in an airplane environment byrunning an optical narrowcasting application on a mobile device. In thisenvironment, the optical narrowcasting application may enhance apassenger's experience during a flight by presenting informationreceived from one or more optical transceivers installed on theairplane, where the term “optical transceiver” refers to an opticalnarrowcasting device that comprises one or more OTAs and one or moreORAs, and that is capable of providing two-way optical communicationsbetween itself and one or more other optical transceivers.

As shown, an optical transceiver 5520 is integrated or attached to anaircraft seat back 5510 positioned in front of the passenger, above thepassenger's tray table. Placement of optical transceiver 5520 in thisposition may facilitate reception of optical beacons and optical signalsin instances where the FOV of an ORA of the mobile device is positionedon the backside of the mobile device (i.e., on the same side as themobile device's forward-facing camera). Similarly it may facilitatetransmission of optical signals from an OTA of the mobile device tooptical transceiver 5520. For example, the passenger may hold the mobiledevice in his/her hand such that the mobile device's display is visiblewhile the ORA of the mobile device receives optical signals fromtransceiver 5520. However, in other implementations, the transceiver5520 may alternatively be integrated into an armrest of the passenger'sseat, overhead in the ceiling above the passenger, or some otherlocation.

As illustrated in the example of FIG. 55A, a live camera feed of themobile device is overlaid with a visual representation 5530 (e.g., iconand/or text) representing optically transmitted information provided bythe airline to the passenger during the flight using optical transceiver5520. For example, icon and text 5530 (illustrated in FIG. 55A as“in-flight information”) may be displayed as a result of the transceiver5520 using its OBT to transmit to the ORA in the mobile device anoptical beacon containing identifying information associated with saidtransceiver. In this example, the portion of the identifying informationdisplayed in the form of the visual representation 5530 identifies thetransceiver 5520 as a source of in-flight information. Selecting 5530(e.g., by a touch user interface gesture) may cause the mobile device todownload and display, via GUI 5500, additional information received fromthe optical signal transmitted by transceiver 5520. In the example ofFIG. 55B, selection of the “in-flight information” icon 5530 causes theGUI 5500 to display a window 5540 including menu options available forselection. For example, the menu options may include an “in-flightentertainment” option, an “in-flight meals” option, a “connecting flightinformation” option, a “restaurants at destination airport” option, andother options. In the example of FIG. 55C, selection of the “connectingflight information” option may display information 5550 on connectingflights received from the optical signal. A user may subsequently cancelthis option and bring back the previous menu. For example, a user maynavigate to the previous menu and select the “restaurants at destinationairport option” to bring up a series of menus pertaining to airportrestaurants.

In some instances, an optical narrowcasting ad-hoc network may beestablished between the user's mobile device and transceiver 5520installed on seat back 5510. This may be particularly advantageous, forexample, where the passenger transmits commands to transceiver 5520requesting transmission of particular content (e.g., movies) over anoptical signal.

Use of optical narrowcasting in this example environment may beparticularly advantageous as the passenger's mobile device may transmitand receive optical signal information even when it is placed in“airplane mode” to comply with FAA regulations relating to RF signalinterference. In addition to using optical narrowcasting to receive andpresent optical-beacon and optical-signal information from an opticaltransceiver installed in the airplane's seatback, a passenger may useoptical narrowcasting to receive optical beacons and optical signals(e.g. from businesses) from the ground through an airplane window.

As noted above, in addition to mobile devices, the optical narrowcastingtechnology disclosed herein may be implemented using vehicles such asbuses and automobiles. GUI methods of implementing this technology inautomobiles are further discussed below. FIG. 56 is a flow diagramillustrating an example of one such GUI method 5600 of implementingoptical narrowcasting in a vehicle. Method 5600, in various embodiments,may be implemented by a vehicle equipped with an ORA as discussed abovewith reference to FIGS. 5A-5B. The vehicle may additionally include adashboard system including the necessary hardware (e.g., camera,display, GPS, storage, etc.), software, and/or firmware to visuallypresent an optical narrowcasting GUI to the vehicle occupants. In someinstances, the optical narrowcasting GUI may be provided as a componentof a navigational map interface of the vehicle.

Following the method of 5600, an ORA of the vehicle may automaticallyretrieve and filter information received from multiple OTAs. Thefiltered information of interest may be presented by a display on thevehicle's dashboard. The information of interest may be filtered duringextraction and storage (e.g., received optical signal information isonly extracted and stored for OST that transmit information ofinterest), during presentation (e.g., a subset of stored information ismade available for presentation), or some combination thereof. FIG. 56will be described with reference to FIGS. 57A-57C, which illustrateexample displays of an optical narrowcasting GUI that may be provided bya vehicle to a driver and/or passenger interested in purchasing realestate.

At operation 5610, a display of the vehicle's dashboard system presentsan optical narrowcasting GUI including controls for setting filters forextraction and storage of data received from OTA by the vehicle's ORA.At operation 5620, the vehicle's dashboard system receives datacorresponding to user input at the GUI selecting filters for extractionand storage of information received from OST. For example, a user mayselect controls for specifying categories and subcategories ofinformation that are of interest and/or not of interest to the user. Forexample, a user may specify that only restaurants, gas stations, andhouses for sale are of interest to the user. As such, in this example,only optical signal information that falls into one of these categories(e.g., as determined by the ORA's extraction of identifying informationfrom an optical beacon) may be stored by the vehicle's dashboard system.As a further example, for a given category of information (e.g.,restaurants), a user may specify additional filters (e.g., pricing,cuisine, hours, etc.) such that only optical signal informationsatisfying these parameters is stored by the vehicle's dashboard system.Alternatively, in some embodiments operations 5610-5620 may be skipped,all information transmitted by OSTs may be extracted and stored, and thefiltering of information of interest may occur during presentation ofthe information to the user.

At operation 5630, the ORA of the vehicle receives informationtransmitted by OTAs. For example, the ORA of the vehicle may receiveoptical beacons and/or optical signals containing information aboutbusinesses, houses for sale, and the like. At operation 5640, the ORA ofthe vehicle extracts identifying data from received optical beacons and,optionally, other data from optical signals. For example, theidentifying data may specify a business name and business category.Depending on the extracted identifying data, at decision 5650 it may bedetermined by software on the vehicle's dashboard system whether or notthe data transmitted by the OTA satisfies the filters specified by theuser during operation 5620. If the data transmitted by the OTA does notsatisfy the specified filters, the ORA of the vehicle may disregard(e.g., not extract or store) data received from the OTA. In someimplementations, it may be necessary to extract optical signal data, inaddition to optical beacon data, from an OTA to make a determination ofwhether the data transmitted by the OTA complies with the filtersspecified by the user during operation 5620. In such implementations,operation 5640 includes the vehicle ORA extracting data from the opticalsignal and decision 5650 includes comparing the extracted optical signaldata against the filters.

At operation 5660, all or a subset of the stored optical beacon data andoptical signal data is presented on the display of the vehicle'sdashboard. FIG. 57A illustrates one such example presentation of anoptical narrowcasting GUI on a display 5700 of a vehicle's dashboard. Inthis example, information is retrieved from OTAs broadcasting for-saleinformation relating to homes or other real estate. For example, priorto the drive, a user may have set filters for retrieving and storingfor-sale information and other information broadcast by OTAs meeting thefilters. For example, along with specifying that homes for sale were ofinterest, the user may have specified additional criteria such aspricing criteria, bedroom number criteria, bathroom number criteria,square footage criteria, location criteria, or other criteria. As such,during the drive, detailed information may have been received and storedfor each house meeting the user specified criteria.

As illustrated in the example of FIG. 57A, the GUI shown on thedashboard display overlays AR objects 5710, 5720, and 5730 associatedwith respective homes over a live camera feed of the vehicle. In thisexample, each AR object is a visual representation of optical beaconand/or optical signal information extracted from an OTA associated witha home for sale and is overlaid based on the respective angularpositions (e.g., in the direction of the home) from which they werereceived by the vehicle's ORA from each home's OTA. Additionally, the ARobjects display extracted information of interest such as price andnumber of rooms. Although in the example of FIG. 57A, an AR GUI isillustrated for presenting the received optical beacon data and opticalsignal data, in some instances, alternative GUIs may be used to presentthe data. For example, the extracted data may instead be presented as anoverlay of a virtual representation of a street view or as an overlay ofan overhead map view of the car's position (e.g., as generated using anavigational map interface of the vehicle dashboard system).

With reference again to method 5600, during or before presentation ofthe optical beacon and/or optical signal data on the display of thevehicle dashboard, the user may select filters for specifying whatstored data is presented. As such, at operation 5680 data may bereceived corresponding to user input at the GUI selecting filterspresenting the stored data. In response, at operation 5690 the GUI maypresent a subset of the stored data based on the selected filters.

Referring now to the example of FIG. 57B, a user may select price and/orroom filters such that the home for-sale represented by AR icon 5710 isfiltered out of view. For example, the user may filter out homes with aprice greater than $600 k and/or homes having more than four bedrooms.

In the example of FIG. 57C, a user in the vehicle selects an icon 5720associated with a home for sale. In response, more detailed informationassociated with the home is presented to the user in a window 5725including a menu of options.

Although example method 5600 has been described with reference tovehicles, it should be appreciated that in other implementations some orall of the steps of method 5600 may be implemented in mobile devices orother devices. For example, a user of a smartphone may run an opticalnarrowcasting application that may be used to set filters for extractionand storage of data extracted from optical beacons and/or opticalsignals, automatically store extracted data satisfying filterparameters, and set filters for specifying what data is presented by aGUI. In addition, in some instances the optical beacon data and/oroptical signal data extracted and stored by the user's vehicle may betransferred to the user's mobile device (e.g., via Bluetooth® or othersuitable connection) for similar presentation using an opticalnarrowcasting application installed on the user's mobile device.

Although the example of FIGS. 57A-57C illustrate one exemplary use casein which the disclosed optical narrowcasting technology may be utilizedwith vehicles, a variety of other uses are possible. For example, insome implementations, vehicles may receive optical transmissions fromadvertising billboards equipped with OTAs associated with businessessuch as restaurants. Following the GUI methods described above, forexample, receipt of optical-beacon and/or optical-signal informationfrom the OTA installed on the advertising billboard may cause a GUI onthe vehicle's dashboard to display icons, windows, or other informationassociated with the business. In some instances, an ad-hoc network maybe established.

In some implementations, road signs such as guide signs (e.g., routemarkers), warning signs (e.g., left turn ahead sign), regulatory signs(e.g., stop signs and yield signs), and other signs may be equipped withan OTA that transmits optical-beacon and/or optical-signal informationto oncoming traffic. This information may be received by vehiclesequipped with an ORA and presented to a user via the vehicle'sdashboard. For example, an optical transmission from a road sign maywarn of upcoming road repairs. This optically transmitted informationmay be made available to a navigational map interface presented by thevehicle's dashboard to adjust estimated travel times and/or remaproutes.

Referring again to FIG. 6, and as alluded to previously, augmentedreality component 164 a may permit recording of the augmented realityscene and embedding in a resulting media file any optically narrowcastcontent (i.e., information) received by one or more ORAs from one ormore OTAs. Such embedded content received by ORAs from OTAs may includeidentifying information extracted from one or more optical beacons,information extracted from one or more optical signals, and/orhorizontal and/or vertical position coordinates within a recorded sceneof one or more of the OTAs that sent the embedded optically transmittedcontent. If desired, the user may disseminate the resulting recordedscene containing embedded optically narrowcast content via, e.g., socialmedia outlets, to be accessed by others. This embedding technique canallow optically narrowcast information to be accessed in a non-real-timemanner, not only by the user, e.g., at a later time, but by social-mediasubscribers or others (e.g., on social-media sites), which may providean enhanced social-media experience for social-media subscribers. It mayalso significantly increase the number of viewers of opticallynarrowcast information (e.g., advertisements), and new opportunities forsocial-media services to generate online advertising revenue may result.Accordingly, augmented reality component 164 a may be thought of as anenhanced media component. In some embodiments, a separate and/ordistinct enhanced media component may be utilized to embed opticallynarrowcast information into one or more media files. In someembodiments, control electronics of an ORA (e.g., control electronics106 d of FIG. 3A) may be used to effectuate the embedding of informationor data.

FIG. 58A is a flow chart illustrating example operations that may beperformed by an ORA, e.g., ORA 166 of FIG. 6, an augmentedreality/enhanced media component, e.g., component 164 a, and/or ORAcontrol electronics, e.g., control electronics 106 d of FIG. 3A, forembedding optically narrowcast content in media content. At operation5810, content extracted from one or more optical beams sent by one ormore OTAs may be received. Such content may be extracted and receivedfrom one or more optical beacons and/or one or more optical signals sentby one or more OTAs. More specifically, identifying informationregarding entities (e.g., persons, businesses, or organizations) thatown, operate, and/or are otherwise associated with OTAs may be receivedfrom one or more optical beacons using one or more OBRs, and otherinformation or data may be received from one or more optical signalsusing one or more OSRs. In addition, information regarding the estimatedhorizontal and vertical angular positions of OTAs within the FOVs of oneor more OBRs may be obtained from optical beacons by, for example, usingthe OBRs capable of measuring the propagation direction of said opticalbeacons. In the case of an augmented reality/enhanced media componenthandling the embedding of information (where such ORA controlelectronics can be an embodiment of enhanced media component 164 a),such optically narrowcast content can be received by the augmentedreality/enhanced media component from an associated ORA. In the case ofORA control electronics handling the embedding of information, suchoptically narrowcast content can be received by the control electronicsfrom one or more OBRs, one or more OSRs, or both, where the OBRs andOSRs may be components of the same ORA as that associated with the ORAcontrol electronics.

At operation 5820, at least one media representation (e.g., videoimagery, digital photographic imagery, and/or recorded audio) of areal-world scene may be received. Receipt of such a media representationcan occur at an augmented reality/enhanced media component or at controlelectronics of an ORA. Referring again to FIG. 6, user device 164 maycomprise one or more cameras 164 b and/or one or more sensors 164 e. Theone or more cameras 164 b may be used to capture a media representationof the real-world environment, such as one or more images of saidreal-world environment. In some embodiments, the one or more images maybe still images/photographs. In some embodiments, a series of images maycomprise frames of a video or animated image of the real-world scene. Insome embodiments, audio or other media representation of the real-worldenvironment may be captured using at least one of the one or moresensors 164 e. For example, one of one or more sensors 164 e may be amicrophone adapted to capture sound/audio sensed in conjunction with thecapture of the at least one image representative of the real-worldscene. In some embodiments, content from other sensors with which ORA166 and/or user device 164 may be interfaced can be received and used tocontribute content to the media representation of the real-world scene.For example, user device 164 may accept audio transmitted via one ormore audio input ports from one or more co-located or remotely locatedmicrophones or audio transducers. In some embodiments, theaforementioned media representation of the real-world environment may becaptured during substantially the same time interval as that duringwhich the optical narrowcasting content that will be embedded in it iscaptured. In some embodiments in which the aforementioned mediarepresentation of the real-world environment is captured by a camera,the camera imagery may be captured during substantially the same timeinterval as that during which the optical narrowcasting content thatwill be embedded in it is captured. Moreover, the propagation directionsfrom which said camera can receive light to form imagery may coincidesubstantially with the propagation directions from which opticallynarrowcast content can be received by the ORA that provides theoptically narrowcast content to be embedded. As such, the horizontal andvertical location within the captured imagery corresponding to thehorizontal and vertical location in the real-world scene of each OTAthat contributes optically narrowcast content (i.e., to be embedded) maybe accurately computed (e.g., based on a location-mapping function orlookup table) from the OTA location data provided for that OTA by theORA.

At operation 5830, optically narrowcast content may be embedded withinor as part of at least one media representation to generate an enhancedmedia dataset. An augmented reality/enhanced media component or controlelectronics of an ORA may perform this embedding of optically narrowcastcontent. Various methods of embedding such information/data can beutilized in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. Forexample, steganography techniques may be used where optically narrowcastcontent may be embedded in a cover medium, which can be image(s),video(s), and/or audio captured by the one or more cameras 164 b and/orone or more sensors 164 e. In some embodiments, digital watermarkingtechniques may be used to insert a digital signal or patternrepresenting optically narrowcast content into digital media contentsuch as captured image(s) and/or audio representing an associatedreal-world scene. Still other techniques, such as least significant bitinsertion, discrete wavelet or cosine transformation, or othertechniques may be used. In some embodiments, a combination of techniquesmay be used. For example, digital watermarking techniques may beutilized to embed identification information into captured video. Asdigital watermarking may be typically used for identifying an owner of awork, embedded identification information, such as source information,GPS coordinates, and the like may be appropriately addressed by digitalwatermarking. For data received or extracted from an optical signal(e.g., data that may include other media itself) that may be morecomprehensive or voluminous than data received or extracted from opticalbeacons, steganography techniques may be utilized, where the mediarepresentation of the real-world environment (e.g., a video) itself maybe temporally modulated. It should be noted that embedded informationmay be “broken up” between two or more images or sets of captured mediarepresentations.

By virtue of embedding optically narrowcast content into captured mediacontent, a single, combined dataset can be generated that combinesphotographic, video, and/or audio representations of the real-worldenvironment with data that has been received from optical beacons and/oroptical signals concurrently received from one or more OTAs, includinginformation regarding horizontal and vertical positions of detected OTAswithin an FOV of an ORA. In some embodiments, this single dataset may begenerated in a standardized format. Optionally, other data can bereceived and/or sensed and embedded, such as a timestamp, a latitude,longitude, and/or altitude of a device in which an ORA is located orwith which it is associated, such as user device 164. Such a combineddataset could be uploaded or live-streamed to other devices or onto adata network, such as the Internet, via WiFi or other data connectionsand/or stored as a file for later use. The aforementioned dataset can bereferred to generally as signal-enhanced media (SEM), particularexamples of which may be referred to as a signal-enhanced photo (SEP), asignal-enhanced video (SEV), and signal-enhanced audio (SEA) dependingon the type of media with which the optically transmitted signal/beaconinformation is combined. It should be noted that while new/modifiedaudio, image, and/or video formats may be developed and utilized toinclude embedded optical beam information, existing formats may beutilized as well. It should be noted that enhanced media component 164 amay be existing software/hardware resident in user device 164 forgenerating audio, image(s), and/or video(s) captured by the one or morecameras 164 b and/or the one or more sensors 164 e.

FIG. 58B is a flow chart illustrating example operations that may beperformed to retrieve information or data embedded in a SEM. Theseexample operations may be performed by any appropriate mediapresentation device and/or application/software. As will be describedsubsequently in further detail, social-media platforms/applications maypresent SEM to users/viewers. Media players, such as those resident onuser devices, e.g., smartphones, laptop PCs, tablet PCs, and the likemay present SEM.

At operation 5850, an enhanced media dataset, such as the aforementionedSEM may be received by a user device. The user device may be any devicecapable of rendering or presenting media content, such as a smartphone,laptop PC, tablet PC, etc. The enhanced media dataset may be receivedfrom a server, data repository, and/or any mechanism, device, or systemused to receive and/or store an enhanced media dataset. For example,software or applications used to view photos and videos and/or listen toaudio could be upgraded to provide the capability to conveniently viewthe full content of one or more SEMs. At operation 5860, the existenceof optically narrowcast content embedded within or as part of theenhanced media dataset may be detected. At operation 5870, some or allof the optically narrowcast content may be extracted. At operation 5880,some or all of the optically narrowcast content may be presented (e.g.,displayed) in conjunction with a presentation of some or all of themedia-representation portion (e.g., the media representation of thereal-world environment) of the enhanced media dataset. It should benoted that the manner of presentation can vary. For example, a user maybe presented with the option of viewing a photo or video captured by acamera 164 b of a real-world scene by itself or with symbols and/oridentifying text/imagery superimposed on the locations in said photo orvideo corresponding to the actual locations (relative to horizontaland/or vertical locations in the photographic or video imagery) of OTAsfrom which information was received and embedded in said captured photoor video. In some embodiments, a symbol may be presented as a selectableicon or control that may be selected by a viewer to bring up a pop-upwindow or other graphic containing information transmitted by aparticular OTA associated with that symbol. In some embodiments, such aselectable icon may be presented in conjunction with the presentation ofaudio that was captured during substantially the same time interval asthat during which embedded optically narrowcast content was captured.

It should be noted that if media captured by a user device (e.g., acamera or a microphone) has been stored as a media file, a media playerutilized to present the media to the user of the user device can allowany and all “standard” or non-signal-enhanced functions to be performedwhen playing back the media. It should be noted that the captured mediacan be presented, e.g., as streaming media or non-real-time media.Additionally, the media player can provide the ability for the user topan, zoom, or otherwise “move around” within a captured photographic orvideo media representation of a real-world environment to bring overlaid(i.e., superimposed) embedded optically narrowcast content received fromone or more OTAs into view commensurate with the horizontal and verticallocation(s) of said OTAs relative to said captured photographic or videorepresentation. Software to perform these functions could also beinstalled on any other devices to be used to view live-streamed and/orpre-recorded media containing embedded optically narrowcast contentsuccessfully received from one or more OTAs, whether or not the deviceused to consume the SEM itself actually produced the SEM itself. Thatis, any information received by ORAs in the form of optical beaconsand/or optical signals may be embedded in media datasets produced byuser devices other than ORAs (e.g., cameras and microphones) and wouldbe available to anyone who receives such media datasets, either in theform of a live stream or as a pre-recorded media file.

It should be noted that the embedding of optically narrowcast contentinto media can be automatically accomplished. For example, operation5830 of FIG. 58A may occur automatically upon detecting the existence ofoptically narrowcast content within the FOV of an optical receiverduring presentation of an augmented reality experience presented to auser (see FIGS. 6-7). In some embodiments, augmented reality component164 a may present an option to a user of user device 164 to embedoptically narrowcast content rather than automatically embedding suchcontent in one or more media representations of the real-world scenecaptured in the augmented reality experience. In some embodiments, auser may set parameters regarding what information to embed, and underwhat conditions to embed the information. For example, user device 164may present a GUI to a user setting forth one or more options or filtersthat specify conditions or parameters defining conditions under whichoptically narrowcast content is embedded in an image or video. Forexample, parameters may specify that information may be embedded when anOTA is within a specified distance from the user/user device, if theinformation is identified as being a particular type of information, ifan OTA is identified as being a particular type or associated with aspecified retailer, business, etc.

Some example applications highlighting the uses and advantages of SEMare discussed herein. As a first example, consider a retail businessthat uses optical narrowcasting to provide information to customers andpotential customers in the vicinity of its brick-and-mortar store. Theretail business may use one or more OTAs inside and/or outside itsbrick-and-mortar store to provide information such as the name, streetaddress, and phone number of the retail business/store, as well asadvertising media, links to its website, Twitter® page, Facebook® page,etc. In the event that a user utilizes an ORA-equipped smartphone totake a video either inside or outside the store, with one or more of thestore's OTAs located within the FOV of the ORA, the optically narrowcastinformation received by the ORA can be embedded into the video toproduce a SEV. When this SEV is shared via social media (e.g., uploadedto YouTube®, Facebook®, or Instagram®), the store can benefit from anincrease in the number of people who have access to the informationtransmitted by the brick-and-mortar store (which may encompassadditional information not discoverable/available absent being presentat the brick-and-mortar store).

Consider another example where an SEV is uploaded to YouTube®. AYouTube® server can be configured to detect the presence of opticallynarrowcast content embedded in an uploaded SEV file, and would provideconvenient means for people viewing the SEV to display this embeddedcontent. It should be noted that the embedding of optically narrowcastcontent need not prevent the addition/embedding of other information toa SEM. For example, a SEM creator may also embed additional informationinto the SEV, such as links to the SEM creator's own social-mediaaccounts. The latitude and longitude of the location at which an SEM wasrecorded may also be automatically embedded, thereby allowing people tofind that location online using a location-based search. The SEMcreator's name (or other identifier, such as a social-media account nameassociated with the creator) may be included in the SEM allowing otherSEMs the SEM creator has uploaded to YouTube® to be convenientlyaccessed. For SEMs that become extremely popular (i.e., go viral), anyembedded information can be accessed by a large number of viewers. Thisrepresents a powerful form of advertising for the store (or any otherperson or organization) whose information has been embedded in the SEM.Embedded information, which can also be considered a form of metadata,may further be encoded with identifying information that can be used tosearch for and/or identify SEM associated with a particular source ofembedded optically narrowcast content (e.g., a retail business, sourceentity, person, etc., that/who owns or is otherwise associated with oneor more OTAs). In this way, such a source can search for and accesspopular (e.g., viral) SEMs that are associated withitself/himself/herself for use in enhancing their own advertising, foruse in an advertising campaign, etc. To that end, such metadata may beassociated with one or more forms of digital media rights (DRM). Forexample a SEM creator can institute DRM in a SEM that he/she creates.For example an information source can embed DRM information/mechanismsin transmitted information such that, e.g., usage of a video recordingmade within the confines a brick-and-mortar store can be controlled bythe brick-and-mortar store/associated business entity.

As another example of the social-media-related benefits of embeddingoptically transmitted information in media, consider the use of SEM byindividuals for business and/or social-networking purposes. For example,two persons who have met may wish to exchange contact information butneither have business cards. However, each person may have a smartphoneequipped to send and receive information optically, e.g., each person'srespective smartphone may have an OTA and an ORA. In order to connect ona social-media platform, the first person may activate his/her OTA andconfigure it to transmit his/her contact information, including one ormore of his/her social-media usernames. The second person may capture avideo or photo of the first person with his/her smartphone's ORAactivated and capable of detecting and receiving the first person'soptical beacons and/or optical signals. The second person's smartphonemay generate a SEM, e.g., a SEV or SEP of the first person, whichincorporates or embeds the first person's contact information (e.g.,name, phone numbers, social-media usernames, etc.) into the SEM.

In some embodiments, the SEM may be uploaded to the second person'ssocial-media platform server(s)/database(s) for storage. In someembodiments, the second person's smartphone, e.g., an augmentedreality/enhanced media component, can extract the first person's contactinformation and upload that contact information to the second person'ssocial-media platform server(s)/database(s). As evidenced by thisexample, the entirety of the SEM need not be uploaded/stored. In someembodiments, a user may wish to locally store identification and/ordescriptive data without the corresponding media content, while storingthe SEM (i.e., the optically narrowcast content along with the capturedmedia) to a social-media platform server/database or other datarepository.

In some embodiments, “tagging” media with information regarding knownsubjects can be accomplished using optical narrowcasting. For example,an optical narrowcasting enabled device may simultaneously recordinformation transmitted optically by each member of a group of people,by taking a single photo or video of the group, with each person usinghis or her OTA-equipped user device, e.g., a smartphone, to transmitdesired information into the ORA of the person taking the picture orvideo. An important advantage of this method is that the horizontal andvertical position of each OTA within the recorded imagery would also becaptured, so that the each person's recorded video or photographicimage(s) could be correctly associated with the information he or shetransmitted optically.

For example, FIG. 59A illustrates a scenario in which a user may utilizea user device, e.g., smartphone 164, to capture an image or video of agroup of individuals, e.g., persons 5910, 5912, 5914, and 5916. Each ofpersons 5910, 5912, 5914, and 5916 may transmit his/her respectiveidentification and/or descriptive data, such as his/her name, contactinformation, or other data using his/her respective OTA-equipped userdevice, e.g., user devices 5910 a, 5912 a, 5914 a, and 5916 a. Each ofuser devices 5910 a, 5912 a, 5914 a, and 5916 a may have respective OTAsand/or ORAs, one example of which is 5910 b/c. For clarity, otherrespective OTAs/ORAs are not labeled in FIG. 59A, but are understood tobe present. The OTAs may transmit one or more optical beacons and/oroptical signals that can be received by an ORA of user device 164 (notshown here, but illustrated, for example, in FIG. 6). User device 164may present a media capture GUI to the user of user device 164 ondisplay 164 c. The media capture GUI may be presented in accordance withusage of one or more cameras 164 b (not shown here, but illustrated, forexample, in FIG. 6), or as an augmented reality experience, with areal-world scene captured using one or more cameras 164 b and createdvia augmented reality/enhanced media component 164 a. The media captureGUI/augmented reality experience may provide the user with options tocapture one or more types of media, e.g., a photo, video, and/or audio.The media capture GUI/augmented reality experience may provide the userwith one or more options to capture a SEM, set an operating parametersuch as flash, etc. In some embodiments, the capturing of one or moretypes of media can automatically include capturing optically narrowcastcontent, without the need to specify an option to capture a SEM. Uponcapturing an image, in this example a photo, all orselectable/filterable information transmitted optically by one or moreOTAs (e.g., the four OTAs operated by the four persons depicted in FIG.59A) may be embedded in the resulting SEP. Such information maymaintained in the SEP, extracted for use/storage apart from the SEP,etc.

In this way, a new dimension to social networking may be created thatmay likely have great appeal to many users. Information about people inphotographs and videos could be conveniently received optically andautomatically stored in image and video files, without the need forextra processing and/or errors associated with visual facial recognitionmethods. After sharing these files using a social-media service, theembedded information could be conveniently accessed by users.Additionally, information received from OTAs mounted on nearby fixedstructures (e.g., shops, restaurants, billboards, and homes) andvehicles (e.g., buses, trucks, and cars) could also be automaticallyincorporated into shared photos and videos. The social-media service canalso provide a search capability allowing users to search for sharedmedia with embedded content relating to persons, businesses,geographical locations of interest, etc. If desired, any user could useprivacy settings to limit the ability of strangers to perform searchesfor information regarding the user, create DRM associated with createdSEM, etc.

For example, FIG. 59B illustrates an example view of a SEP taken inaccordance with example scenario illustrated in FIG. 59A. As illustratedin FIG. 59B, the resulting SEP 5932 may be displayed on a social-mediaplatform webpage 5930 presented to a user on, e.g., a user device, suchas a smartphone. An appropriate user interface of the social-mediaplatform webpage 5930 may include options to download media alonewithout embedded optically narrowcast content, e.g., an option todownload media 5934. The user interface may provide an option todownload the entirety of SEP 5932 vis-à-vis “SEM download” option 5936.The user interface may provide an option to tag each of the persons inthe SEP 5932 using one or more aspects of the embedded information,e.g., the embedded name information associated with each person andtransmitted by each person's respective OTA. This can be accomplishedvia an “ID” option 5938. The user interface may provide an option todownload solely the embedded optically transmitted information, in thiscase, name and contact information of each person in the SEP 5932 via“OPTI-INFO” option 5940 Such embedded information may be extracted andstored locally, e.g., in a digital address book.

Still another example may involve utilization of embedded opticallynarrowcast content as a pointer or bookmark to additional and/or otherinformation or content, such as narrowcast content. As previouslydiscussed, optical beacon information as well as optical signalinformation may be transmitted by an OTA and received by an ORA. In someembodiments, optical beacon information may be embedded as opticallynarrowcast content into SEM such that a user viewing the SEM in the sameor proximate location to that in which the optically narrowcast contentwas obtained may at that time, receive optical signal informationtransmitted by, e.g., the OTA that transmitted the embedded opticallynarrowcast content. In some embodiments, the additional and/or otherinformation or content may be content associated with and/or availabledue to proximity to the location in which the embedded opticallynarrowcast content was obtained. Such additional and/or otherinformation or content may be received by the user via anothercommunication channel, e.g., WiFi or Bluetooth® channel. In this way, auser may filter and/or otherwise experience the ability to selectivelyreceive information or content. In this way, memory of a user device maybe reserved.

Additional example applications of the optical narrowcasting technologydisclosed herein are discussed below.

In various embodiments, the optical narrowcasting technology disclosedherein may be applied to a variety of business environments, includingbut not limited to:

Selling or leasing optical narrowcasting hardware and software directlyto businesses and other organizations for use in their marketingcampaigns. For example, a company could purchase optical narrowcastinghardware and software to be installed at their brick-and-mortar retailstores. This could be used to optically transmit product information,store hours, and other information of interest to potential customers.

Selling or leasing optical narrowcasting hardware and software toout-of-home advertising companies, or partnering with such companies tosell or lease such hardware and software to other businesses for use intheir marketing campaigns. For example, a billboard company could supplyoptical narrowcasting hardware to companies for use on billboards,storefront displays, and other locations where out-of-home advertisingis used.

Selling portable-device-based optical narrowcasting hardware directly toindividual consumers or to companies selling smartphones and similardevices to consumers. For example, smartphone cases with opticalreceivers and/or optical transmitters built into them could be solddirectly to consumers. Or, optical narrowcasting equipment could be soldto manufacturers to be incorporated into smartphones and other portabledevices (e.g., tablet computers, e-book readers, etc.).

Charging fees to sellers of various products for optically transmittedads that direct traffic to the sellers' websites. For example, opticalnarrowcasting equipment could be set up in various outdoor locations.Ads could be transmitted from these locations, which could be receivedby individuals using portable-device-based optical receivers. These adscould contain links that, when clicked on, may direct the portabledevice user to product-related websites where he could obtain productinformation and/or purchase specific products. The sellers of suchproducts could, for example, be charged an advertising fee for eachinstance of traffic being directed to their websites or for each productsale resulting from such traffic. Additionally, optically transmitted adcontent could be embedded in videos and photos recorded by portabledevice users and then uploaded or livestreamed to one or more socialmedia websites. Other individuals viewing such videos or photos onlinemay have the opportunity to click on such embedded ads to view the adcontent and/or be redirected to sellers' websites. Companies advertisingtheir products via such embedded ads could be charged advertising feeson a pay-per-click, pay-per-sale, or similar basis.

Creating new social media sites and apps based on the sharing of contentobtained via optical narrowcasting, and then generating income throughonline ads appearing on these sites and apps. For example, a socialmedia app could be created that may allow individuals to convenientlyuse their smartphones and other portable devices to create and sharevideos and photos containing embedded optically transmitted content.Companies selling various products could be charged fees in exchange forads viewed by users of the social media app.

The optical narrowcasting technology disclosed herein may also beapplied to a variety of social media environments.

In various embodiments, the presently disclosed optical narrowcastingtechnology provides a new way to disseminate digital information. Itsunique characteristics make important contributions to social media, andtherefore offer great opportunities.

In various embodiments, the presently optical narrowcasting technologyis its highly localized nature. The term “localized” here refers to thefact that for this technology to successfully transmit data from onelocation to another, it utilizes, on some embodiments, a direct orindirect (e.g., diffusely reflected) optical path between thetransmitter and receiver, with a sufficiently small path length toprevent excessive bit errors. This characteristic can be taken advantageof in a social media context to obtain information that might otherwisebe difficult or impossible to obtain regarding the location of peoplesending the information.

For example, consider the case of a store in a shopping mall that wantsto use a social media app to collect feedback from customers regardingvarious products it's selling. But it only wants people who arecurrently inside the store to be able to leave feedback, because suchpeople are much more likely to be customers who are interested in andknowledgeable about the store's products. One potential solution is touse the location-sensing feature available in most smartphones and otherportable devices. However, the information provided by thelocation-sensing feature may not be sufficiently accurate to reliablydetermine whether people leaving feedback are actually in the store.They may, for example, be just outside the store or in a different storedirectly above or below the store that is collecting the feedback.Another potential problem is that many people may not have thelocation-sensing feature activated in their portable device. Or, even ifthey do have it activated, they may not wish to give the store'sfeedback-collection app permission to access their location information.Similar problems would prevent WiFi from being used to limit feedbackcollection to in-store customers. WiFi signals pass through walls,floors, and ceilings. Additionally, many customers may not be willing tolog into the store's WiFi system.

These problems could be eliminated by using one or more opticalreceivers mounted in the ceiling of the store to collect customerfeedback. The field of view (FOV) of the receivers can be designed toonly pick up information optically transmitted by people actually in thestore. In addition, optical information does not pass through walls,floors, or ceilings. Using an array of receivers, detailed informationabout where people are within the store could also be obtained. Thiscould be used to provide accurate navigation within the store, with asearch feature to help people locate specific products they'reinterested in.

The localized nature of the optical narrowcasting technology in someembodiments could also be used to motivate people to visit a particulargeographic location, for business purposes or otherwise. For example, achain of retail stores could use social media to advertise a contestwith valuable prizes. But to enter the contest, a person may be requiredto visit one of the chain's store and transmit his or her contactinformation to one of the store's optical receivers using the opticaltransmitter controlled by a social media app in his or her smartphone orother portable device. As in the previous example, the opticalnarrowcasting technology may provide superior localization relative towhat could be achieved using WiFi or built-in location sensors.

As another example of an application taking advantage of the localizednature of optical narrowcasting, consider a new form of travel-relatedsocial media service that may allow people to easily document tripsthey've taken and share that information with their online friends. Theservice itself may be given a descriptive name, such as Placebook. Thecompany providing the service may establish a worldwide network ofoptical receivers at convenient locations, such as parks, museums,restaurants, hotels, airports, train stations, etc. A subscriber coulduse his smartphone or other portable device to find nearby receivers.Once they've found one, they could to go to its location and use theirsmartphone to optically transmit their identifying information to it.This could be done without the need for either a cellular network orWiFi. Besides their identifying information, users could also transmitrelevant text, photos, and/or video imagery. The optical receiver couldalso be equipped with a camera, which it may use to record photographsor video of subscribers while they are transmitting their information.

In various embodiments, all of this information, including any photos orvideos recorded by the Placebook receiver may be stored on thesubscriber's Placebook page, along with the location of the receiver anda timestamp, providing a record of the subscriber's travels. Thisinformation could be shared with the subscriber's Placebook “friends”and/or with other subscribers, so travelers could compare notes ondifferent travel destinations. The information may be fully searchableby date, location, key words, etc. The Placebook receivers could beinstalled and paid for by the company providing the service.Additionally, other companies, organizations, or communities couldbenefit by sponsoring receivers, which may attract Placebook subscribersto their locations. Revenue could also be generated via ads viewable byusers of the social media service.

Another characteristic of the presently disclosed optical narrowcastingtechnology is that, in some embodiments, it can more easily provideprivacy and anonymity to its users than other forms of digitalcommunication currently in use. Many current users of social media aresufficiently concerned about privacy that they have a strong preferencefor social media technology that preserves as much privacy as possible.

Consider a person who is simply interested in receiving information.Using a smartphone equipped with an optical receiver, she will be ableto receive information from any nearby optical transmitter, as long asthere is an unobstructed line of sight—or indirect diffuse propagationpath—between the transmitter and the receiver, and the range from thetransmitter to the receiver is low enough to provide a sufficiently highsignal-to-noise ratio. She will be able to receive such signals withoutneeding to log-in to a WiFi network or use his cellular connection. Infact, She will be able to receive data even when his phone in “airplanemode”. Thus, people who only want to receive data can do this whileremaining anonymous. Even for someone who also wants to send data, ahigh degree of privacy can be achieved. The primary reason for this isthat the beam transmitted by an optical transmitter can be made quitenarrow, if desired. Thus, only receivers within this narrow beam widthwill be capable of receiving information. This is in contrast to signalssent using wireless service, WiFi, and Bluetooth®, which areomnidirectional. If an even higher level of security in transmittingdata is desired, encryption can be used.

An appealing characteristic of the optical narrowcasting technologydisclosed herein is that it can serve as an effective substitute forconventional signage and as a new medium for personal expression. Ahomeowner can install an optical narrowcasting transmitter on the sideof his house. He could then transmit information regarding his businessto passersby without violating local ordinances. People could beinterested in installing optical transmitters on their homes for suchnon-business purposes as uncensored personal expression, declaringsupport for particular political candidates, advertising free kittens,announcing a neighborhood barbecue, transmitting a new music compositionor a personal video.

A characteristic of the optical narrowcasting technology as it relatesto social media, in some embodiments, is the capability it provides toautomatically embed information received from an optical transmitterinto videos or photographs captured by smartphones or other portabledevices. This capability could add a new and powerful dimension tosocial media by greatly increasing the potential audience size for anygiven message transmitted via optical narrowcasting. The best way tounderstand this is to discuss some examples.

As an example of the social media-related benefits of embeddingoptically transmitted information in videos and photographs, we considerthe use of this technology by individuals for business- orsocial-networking purposes. Suppose two strangers, Bob and Susan, areseated next to each other on a commercial airliner and have struck up aconversation during their flight. At the end of the flight, they agreeto keep in touch. Neither of them have business cards, but they bothhave smartphones equipped to send and receive information optically. Toconnect with Susan on social media, Bob may simply activate his opticaltransmitter, setting it up to transmit his contact information,including one or more of his social media usernames. Susan could thentake a video or photo of Bob, with her phone's optical receiveractivated and with his phone's optical transmitter within the receiver'sFOV. Her phone may then create an SEV or a signal-enhanced photograph(SEP) of Bob, which may incorporate Bob's contact information (e.g.,name, phone numbers, social media usernames, etc.) into the image file.

All of this information, including the video or photo itself, could thenbe automatically uploaded to Susan's account on a social media serviceproviding the capability of storing and sharing SEPs and SEVs. The samemethod could be used to simultaneously record information transmittedoptically by each member of a group of people, by taking a single photoor video of the group, with each person using his or her smartphone totransmit the desired information into the optical receiver of the persontaking the picture or video. An advantage of this method is that, insome embodiments, the horizontal and vertical position of each opticaltransmitter within the recorded imagery may also be captured, so thatthe each person's recorded video or photographic images could becorrectly associated with the information he or she transmittedoptically.

In some embodiments, the above features may be implemented in a newsocial media service, rather than utilize existing social mediaplatforms (e.g., Facebook®). For example, a new social media servicecould be created that may be devoted to sharing SEPs and SEVs ratherthan conventional photos and videos.

In some embodiments, the new social media service discussed above couldbe given an appropriate name, such as Optigram, and could be capable ofdisplaying and extracting embedded information from SEPs and SEVs. Thismay provide a new dimension to social networking having great appeal tomany users. For the first time, information about people in photographsand videos could be conveniently received optically and automaticallystored in image and video files. After sharing these files using thesocial media service, the embedded information could be convenientlyaccessed by users. Additionally, information received from opticaltransmitters mounted on nearby fixed structures (e.g., shops,restaurants, billboards, and homes) and vehicles (e.g., buses, trucks,and cars) could also be automatically incorporated into shared photosand videos. The social media service may also provide a searchcapability allowing users to search for shared media with embeddedcontent relating to persons, businesses, geographical locations ofinterest, etc. (If desired, any user could use privacy settings to limitthe ability of strangers to perform searches for information regardinghimself.)

Advertising revenue could be generated by existing methods and/or byoptically transmitted ads embedded in uploaded photos and videos. Thelatter category of ads could gain further exposure—and thereforegenerate further revenue—whenever users provide links to them on othersocial media sites or re-upload them to such sites.

FIG. 60 illustrates an example computing module that may be used toimplement various features of the methods disclosed herein.

As used herein, the term module might describe a given unit offunctionality that can be performed in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the present application. As used herein, a module mightbe implemented utilizing any form of hardware, software, or acombination thereof. For example, one or more processors, controllers,ASICs, PLAs, PALs, CPLDs, FPGAs, logical components, software routinesor other mechanisms might be implemented to make up a module. Inimplementation, the various modules described herein might beimplemented as discrete modules or the functions and features describedcan be shared in part or in total among one or more modules. In otherwords, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art afterreading this description, the various features and functionalitydescribed herein may be implemented in any given application and can beimplemented in one or more separate or shared modules in variouscombinations and permutations. Even though various features or elementsof functionality may be individually described or claimed as separatemodules, one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that thesefeatures and functionality can be shared among one or more commonsoftware and hardware elements, and such description shall not requireor imply that separate hardware or software components are used toimplement such features or functionality.

Where components or modules of the application are implemented in wholeor in part using software, in one embodiment, these software elementscan be implemented to operate with a computing or processing modulecapable of carrying out the functionality described with respectthereto. One such example computing module is shown in FIG. 60. Variousembodiments are described in terms of this example-computing module6000. After reading this description, it will become apparent to aperson skilled in the relevant art how to implement the applicationusing other computing modules or architectures.

Referring now to FIG. 60, computing module 6000 may represent, forexample, computing or processing capabilities found within desktop,laptop, notebook, and tablet computers; hand-held computing devices(tablets, PDA's, smart phones, cell phones, palmtops, etc.); mainframes,supercomputers, workstations or servers; or any other type ofspecial-purpose or general-purpose computing devices as may be desirableor appropriate for a given application or environment. Computing module6000 might also represent computing capabilities embedded within orotherwise available to a given device. For example, a computing modulemight be found in other electronic devices such as, for example, digitalcameras, navigation systems, cellular telephones, portable computingdevices, modems, routers, WAPs, terminals and other electronic devicesthat might include some form of processing capability.

Computing module 6000 might include, for example, one or moreprocessors, controllers, control modules, or other processing devices,such as a processor 6004. Processor 6004 might be implemented using ageneral-purpose or special-purpose processing engine such as, forexample, a microprocessor, controller, or other control logic. In theillustrated example, processor 6004 is connected to a bus 6002, althoughany communication medium can be used to facilitate interaction withother components of computing module 6000 or to communicate externally.

Computing module 6000 might also include one or more memory modules,simply referred to herein as main memory 6008. For example, preferablyrandom access memory (RAM) or other dynamic memory, might be used forstoring information and instructions to be executed by processor 6004.Main memory 6008 might also be used for storing temporary variables orother intermediate information during execution of instructions to beexecuted by processor 6004. Computing module 6000 might likewise includea read only memory (“ROM”) or other static storage device coupled to bus6002 for storing static information and instructions for processor 6004.

The computing module 6000 might also include one or more various formsof information storage mechanism 6010, which might include, for example,a media drive 6012 and a storage unit interface 6020. The media drive6012 might include a drive or other mechanism to support fixed orremovable storage media 6014. For example, a hard disk drive, a solidstate drive, a magnetic tape drive, an optical disk drive, a CD or DVDdrive (R or RW), or other removable or fixed media drive might beprovided. Accordingly, storage media 6014 might include, for example, ahard disk, a solid state drive, magnetic tape, cartridge, optical disk,a CD, DVD, or Blu-ray, or other fixed or removable medium that is readby, written to or accessed by media drive 6012. As these examplesillustrate, the storage media 6014 can include a computer usable storagemedium having stored therein computer software or data.

In alternative embodiments, information storage mechanism 6010 mightinclude other similar instrumentalities for allowing computer programsor other instructions or data to be loaded into computing module 6000.Such instrumentalities might include, for example, a fixed or removablestorage unit 6022 and an interface 6020. Examples of such storage units6022 and interfaces 6020 can include a program cartridge and cartridgeinterface, a removable memory (for example, a flash memory or otherremovable memory module) and memory slot, a PCMCIA slot and card, andother fixed or removable storage units 6022 and interfaces 6020 thatallow software and data to be transferred from the storage unit 6022 tocomputing module 6000.

Computing module 6000 might also include a communications interface6024. Communications interface 6024 might be used to allow software anddata to be transferred between computing module 6000 and externaldevices. Examples of communications interface 6024 might include a modemor softmodem, a network interface (such as an Ethernet, networkinterface card, WiMedia, IEEE 802.XX or other interface), acommunications port (such as for example, a USB port, IR port, RS232port Bluetooth® interface, or other port), or other communicationsinterface. Software and data transferred via communications interface6024 might typically be carried on signals, which can be electronic,electromagnetic (which includes optical) or other signals capable ofbeing exchanged by a given communications interface 6024. These signalsmight be provided to communications interface 6024 via a channel 6028.This channel 6028 might carry signals and might be implemented using awired or wireless communication medium. Some examples of a channel mightinclude a phone line, a cellular link, an RF link, an optical link, anetwork interface, a local or wide area network, and other wired orwireless communications channels.

In this document, the terms “computer readable medium”, “computer usablemedium” and “computer program medium” are used to generally refer tonon-transitory media, volatile or non-volatile, such as, for example,memory 6008, storage unit 6022, and media 6014. These and other variousforms of computer program media or computer usable media may be involvedin carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to aprocessing device for execution. Such instructions embodied on themedium, are generally referred to as “computer program code” or a“computer program product” (which may be grouped in the form of computerprograms or other groupings). When executed, such instructions mightenable the computing module 6000 to perform features or functions of thepresent application as discussed herein.

Although described above in terms of various exemplary embodiments andimplementations, it should be understood that the various features,aspects and functionality described in one or more of the individualembodiments are not limited in their applicability to the particularembodiment with which they are described, but instead can be applied,alone or in various combinations, to one or more of the otherembodiments of the application, whether or not such embodiments aredescribed and whether or not such features are presented as being a partof a described embodiment. Thus, the breadth and scope of the presentapplication should not be limited by any of the above-describedexemplary embodiments.

Terms and phrases used in this document, and variations thereof, unlessotherwise expressly stated, should be construed as open ended as opposedto limiting. As examples of the foregoing: the term “including” shouldbe read as meaning “including, without limitation” or the like; the term“example” is used to provide exemplary instances of the item indiscussion, not an exhaustive or limiting list thereof; the terms “a” or“an” should be read as meaning “at least one,” “one or more” or thelike; and adjectives such as “conventional,” “traditional,” “normal,”“standard,” “known” and terms of similar meaning should not be construedas limiting the item described to a given time period or to an itemavailable as of a given time, but instead should be read to encompassconventional, traditional, normal, or standard technologies that may beavailable or known now or at any time in the future. Likewise, wherethis document refers to technologies that would be apparent or known toone of ordinary skill in the art, such technologies encompass thoseapparent or known to the skilled artisan now or at any time in thefuture.

The presence of broadening words and phrases such as “one or more,” “atleast,” “but not limited to” or other like phrases in some instancesshall not be read to mean that the narrower case is intended or requiredin instances where such broadening phrases may be absent. The use of theterm “module” does not imply that the components or functionalitydescribed or claimed as part of the module are all configured in acommon package. Indeed, any or all of the various components of amodule, whether control logic or other components, can be combined in asingle package or separately maintained and can further be distributedin multiple groupings or packages or across multiple locations.

Additionally, the various embodiments set forth herein are described interms of exemplary block diagrams, flow charts and other illustrations.As will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art afterreading this document, the illustrated embodiments and their variousalternatives can be implemented without confinement to the illustratedexamples. For example, block diagrams and their accompanying descriptionshould not be construed as mandating a particular architecture orconfiguration.

While various embodiments of the present disclosure have been describedabove, it should be understood that they have been presented by way ofexample only, and not of limitation. Likewise, the various diagrams maydepict an example architectural or other configuration for thedisclosure, which is done to aid in understanding the features andfunctionality that can be included in the disclosure. The disclosure isnot restricted to the illustrated example architectures orconfigurations, but the desired features can be implemented using avariety of alternative architectures and configurations. Indeed, it willbe apparent to one of skill in the art how alternative functional,logical or physical partitioning and configurations can be implementedto implement the desired features of the present disclosure. Also, amultitude of different constituent module names other than thosedepicted herein can be applied to the various partitions. Additionally,with regard to flow diagrams, operational descriptions and methodclaims, the order in which the steps are presented herein shall notmandate that various embodiments be implemented to perform the recitedfunctionality in the same order unless the context dictates otherwise.It should be understood that the steps may be reorganized for parallelexecution, or reordered, as applicable.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for optically transmitting data,comprising: a plurality of light sources, each comprising a lightemitter; a light-source driver element adapted to receive data to beoptically transmitted and to output modulated electrical signalsrepresentative of the received data, identical and synchronized copiesof the output modulated electrical signals driving each of the pluralityof light sources; and a plurality of beamforming optics, each of theplurality of beamforming optics having an optical axis centered on thelight emitter of one of each of the plurality of light sources, each ofthe plurality of beamforming optics comprising: a body between acircular entrance pupil and a circular exit pupil and configured tocollect and concentrate optical beams from a respective light emitterthrough the circular entrance pupil and emit the optical beams from thecircular exit pupil; and shaping optics configured to shape the opticalbeams output from the circular exit pupil, such that a cross-section ofthe optical beams conforms to a desired two-dimensional region; one ormore of each of the plurality of beamforming optics being orientedrelative to each other, such that the plurality of beamforming opticstransmit a combination of optical beams, the combination of opticalbeams comprising an optical beam output from each of the plurality ofbeamforming optics, each optical beam having an optical intensitydistribution that is a function of angular coordinates resulting fromconcentrating the optical beam through shaping and at least one of areflective, refractive, and diffractive property of its respectivebeamforming optic, the combination of optical beams having an opticalintensity uniformly distributed over a two-dimensional angular outputregion that is a function of each optical beam's respective opticalintensity distribution, wherein one or more edges of two or more opticalbeams of the combination of optical beams abut each other to create thetwo-dimensional angular output region.
 2. The system of claim 1, whereinthe light-source driver element comprises a single light source driveror a plurality of mutually synchronized light-source drivers.
 3. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein one or more of the plurality of beamformingoptics and one or more light sources of the plurality of light sourcescorresponding to the one or more of the plurality of beamforming opticsare positioned with an angular offset.
 4. The system of claim 3, whereinthe optical intensity distribution is a function of a horizontal angularcoordinate and a vertical angular coordinate within the two-dimensionalangular output region.
 5. The system of claim 3, wherein the angularoffset comprises at least one of a horizontal angular offset or avertical angular offset relative to the two-dimensional angular outputregion.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein each optical beam transmittedby each of the plurality of beamforming optics has a uniform opticalintensity distribution that is a function of a horizontal angularcoordinate and a vertical angular coordinate within the two-dimensionalangular output region specified for each of the plurality of beamformingoptics.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein a first subset of theplurality of beamforming optics collects light from a firstcorresponding subset of light sources and outputs the collected light asa modulated optical beam comprising an optical beacon including beaconinformation indicative of a presence or availability of additional orother information associated with the system and representative of atleast a portion of the received data, and wherein a second subset of theplurality of beamforming optics collects light from a secondcorresponding subset of light sources and outputs the collected light asa modulated optical beam comprising an optical signal including theadditional or other information associated with the system andrepresentative of at least another portion of the received data.
 8. Thesystem of claim 7, wherein the combination of optical beams comprisesthe optical signals temporally interleaved with the optical beacons. 9.The system of claim 7, wherein the combination of optical beamscomprises a combination of the optical signals and the optical beacons,each of the optical signals including a first identifier and each of theoptical beacons including a second identifier.
 10. The system of claim7, wherein the combination of optical beams comprises a combination ofoptical signals transmitted in a first optical wavelength band andoptical beacons transmitted in a second optical wavelength band, thefirst optical wavelength band being a different, non-overlapping opticalwavelength band than that of the second optical wavelength band.
 11. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of beamforming opticscollects light from a corresponding light source and outputs thecollected light as a modulated optical beam comprising at least one ofan optical beacon including beacon information indicative of a presenceor availability of additional or other information associated with thesystem and representative of at least a portion of the received data oran optical signal including the additional or other informationassociated with the system and representative of at least anotherportion of the received data.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein thecombination of optical beams comprises the optical signals temporallyinterleaved with the optical beacons.
 13. The system of claim 11,wherein the combination of optical beams comprises a combination of theoptical signals and the optical beacons, each of the optical signalsincluding a first identifier and each of the optical beacons including asecond identifier.
 14. The system of claim 11, wherein the combinationof optical beams comprises a combination of the optical signalsmodulated by the optical beacons.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein afirst data rate used to transmit the optical beacons is lower than asecond data rate used to transmit the optical signals.
 16. The system ofclaim 15, wherein a modulation representative of the optical signals ismodulated by a modulation representative of the optical beacons, thereceived data comprising: beacon information indicative of a presence oravailability of additional or other information associated with thesystem; and signal information comprising the additional or otherinformation associated with the system.
 17. A system, comprising: aplurality of light sources, each including a light emitter; alight-source driver element adapted to receive data to be opticallytransmitted and to output modulated electrical signals representative ofthe received data, identical and synchronized copies of the outputmodulated electrical signals driving each of the plurality of lightsources; and a plurality of beamforming optics, one of each of theplurality of beamforming optics having an optical axis centered on thelight emitter of one of each of the plurality of light sources such thatthe plurality of beamforming optics transmit a combination of opticalbeams, the combination of optical beams comprising an optical beamoutput from each of the plurality of beamforming optics, the combinationof optical beams having an optical intensity distributed over atwo-dimensional angular output region, and wherein each of the pluralityof beamforming optics comprises a wineglass collimator including a firstportion and a second portion each of which being rotationally symmetricabout the optical axis centered on the light emitter of a correspondinglight source, the first portion of the wineglass collimator having abroad middle body between a narrow circular first entrance pupil and anarrow circular first exit pupil, the broad middle body having a firstdiameter greater than a second diameter of the narrow circular firstentrance pupil and greater than a third diameter of the narrow circularfirst exit pupil, the second portion of the wineglass collimator havinga flared body between a narrow circular second entrance pupil and abroad circular second exit pupil, the narrow second entrance pupil beingcoupled to, and having the same diameter as, the narrow circular firstexit pupil, a fourth diameter of the broad second exit pupil beinggreater than the first diameter of the broad middle body of the firstportion, the narrow first entrance pupil positioned near thecorresponding light source to receive light from the corresponding lightsource and emit the light from the broad second exit pupil.
 18. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the body between the circular entrance pupiland the circular exit pupil comprises an ellipsoidal portion and aparaboloidal portion, a first end of the paraboloidal portion formingthe circular exit pupil, and wherein the circular exit pupil has anaperture larger than the circular entrance pupil.
 19. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the body between the circular entrance pupil and thecircular exit pupil comprises an ellipsoidal portion and a paraboloidalportion, a first end of the paraboloidal portion forming the circularexit pupil, and wherein the circular exit pupil has an aperture largerthan the circular entrance pupil.
 20. The system of claim 19, whereineach of the plurality of beamforming optics further comprises twolenslet arrays positioned proximate to the circular exit pupil forreceiving the light emitted from the circular exit pupil.
 21. The systemof claim 20, wherein a spacing distance between the two lenslet arraysis equal to a focal length of each lenslet in each of the two lensletarrays.
 22. A system for optically transmitting data, comprising: aplurality of light sources; a light-source driver element adapted toreceive data to be optically transmitted and to output modulatedelectrical signals representative of the received data, identical andsynchronized copies of the output modulated electrical signals drivingeach of the plurality of light sources; and a plurality of beamformingoptics, each of the plurality of beamforming optics having an opticalaxis substantially centered on a light emitter of one of each of theplurality of light sources, each of the plurality of beamforming opticscomprising: a first beamforming optics element collecting modulatedoptical beams output from the light emitter of a respective one of eachof the plurality of light sources, and concentrating the modulatedoptical beams to have an optical intensity distribution as a function ofhorizontal and vertical angular coordinates relative to the opticalaxis; and a second beamforming optics element shaping the concentrated,modulated optical beams such that the optical intensity distribution ofthe concentrated, modulated optical beams is substantially uniformlydistributed over a two-dimensional angular output region; wherein one ormore edges of two or more of the concentrated, modulated optical beamsabut each other to create a tiled formation of the concentrated,modulated optical beams.
 23. The system of claim 22, wherein the firstbeamforming optics element comprises a collimator comprising: anellipsoidal portion having a circular entrance pupil at a first endreceiving the modulated optical beams output from a respective one ofthe plurality of light sources; and a paraboloidal portion proximate toa second end of the ellipsoidal portion, wherein one end of theparaboloidal portion distal from the second end of the ellipsoidalportion forming a circular exit pupil, the circular exit pupil having anaperture larger than the circular entrance pupil.
 24. The system ofclaim 23, wherein the second beamforming optics element comprises one ormore lenslet arrays.